This morning I was reading FB posts from friends I met at a Discovery Weekend at Austin Seminary. They have been moving in to their new apartments all month long and today is their first day of seminary. God is funny that way. Out of all the Discovery Weekend attendees, I bet I would have ranked very high in the "so who do you think will reeaaallly attend in the fall?" I was so sure of my plans/ of God's plans for me that brisk weekend in October 2011. I came home and wrote essays and called references and talked to family and friends and even preached on Sunday about God's plan for my life. As the time wore on so did my resolve about what God really had in mind for me. Doubt seeped in and with doubt came prayer and contemplation. I was so sure. I really did hear God speaking to me in April 2011. I had a deep burning desire to what...? To go to seminary or to get out of my little rural town?
As part of my "financial" package for seminary, I took a job in November 2011. Save up some money for school. As I got busy, I had less time to feel sorry for myself in what I had decided was God's forsaken town. Before my job, I realized how much I did not fit in. I did not have one friend to call and say "let's go to the movies." I had maybe one or two people I called to go to lunch, but their lives were busy with kids (like I didn't have any myself!) and it seemed to me their life was already full of friends and they didn't need anymore.
I'll never forget (and my boys probably won't either) the day I burst into tears when I found out their one and only friend here had decided to go to the movies with some other guys and had ditched my boys. I was incensed! Why didn't he invite you two also? Doesn't he know how hard it is to make friends here? Why can't these people share friends????? I was crying and blubbering all over the car. My boys sat quietly as I finished my tirade and calmed me "it's okay, Momma, we really don't want to go with those other guys." How can they not? Do you know how? They have a multitude of online friends! They have maintained friendships online and every once in a while get to see them. They don't have to have a zillion friends to keep up with. My boys have a few close friends in almost every part of the country and they are content with that.
I got a good lesson in contentment that day. I am fortunate to have a loving family and good, good friends in all parts of the country. We might not see each daily or go to lunch or have that occasional soft drink at the Sonic but we talk and write and you know what? They are a click or phone dial away.
As my friends start their theological education in Austin, I will miss having that experience with them. At this point in my life I am not sure of my future plans, but I am sure of WHO holds me and I am content.
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