It’s 1:30am and I’m itching to
write. It’s been a while since I’ve last
written, mostly because I have no idea what to say. I have all of these thoughts bouncing around
in my head, but none of them are complete, so I’m hoping that I’ve made a few
coherent sentences once I’ve finished this.
If not, oh well, I guess, not many people will read this anyway.
A lot has happened since my last
post. I danced in my last dance recital
as a graduating Senior and then graduated high school, my braces are gone, I
spent my summer working at camp, I’ve
made new friends, I have a new job.
There have been a lot of new things in such a small amount of time. It seems silly that your life is supposed to
completely change all of a sudden just because you’re not in school
anymore. I’m really just trying to learn
how to take it all in and figure this whole thing out. I have a feeling it’s going to take a while
before I even sort of have a grip on life, but that’s cool with me; I like
exploring this new unknown territory of “adulthood”… if you can even call it
that.
If you ask me what I think is the
most important thing I’ve learned in this past year, it’s that life is like a
book of short stories – all the small stories are what contribute to creating
one big incredible book. I know, the
whole idea sounds kind of cliché. I’ve
just realized that, a lot of the time, we are waiting for that one big thing
to happen that will define us and make our life “good” and I’m not really sure
if that is the right way to go about life.
Whether it’s graduating high school, going to college, traveling, starting
a business, getting married, or having kids, I’m starting to see that if we are
constantly waiting for that one huge moment to happen, it’s causing us to miss
so many amazing little things happening every day. We are missing the “good life” by ignoring it
while it happens around us every day. Or at least I am. It’s not bad to be excited for the future and
to have hopes and dreams, but I’m seeing that taking every opportunity to make
memories, so we can look back on them later with a smile, is what makes up a “good
life.” I’ve always lived waiting for the
day I can make memories instead of realizing that now is my time to make them
because we aren’t promised tomorrow. This
is the “good life.”
“Here's the truth about
telling stories with your life. It's going to sound like a great idea, and
you're going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the
work, you're not going to want to do it. It's like that with writing books, and
it's like that with life. People love to have lived a great story, but few
people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy costs pain.” – A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by
Donald Miller
One of my favorite movie quotes is,
“You're supposed to be the leading lady of your own life!” The leading lady doesn’t wait for excitement
to come to her, she chases after it! She
takes any chance she can get to make memories, good or bad. I want this story of mine to be a good one,
not one where the main character sits around waiting for things to happen or
one where she is offered opportunities, but says no for fear that something
better might come about. When I’m older
I want to reread my story over and over again with a smile and a giggle. I want it to be one of my favorites –
next to
Pride and Prejudice and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Not only do I want to like my story, but I
want the Lord to like it too. He’s given
me this life like the master gave his servant a bag of silver to take care of. Instead of investing in it and making it
grow, he hid it away and it stayed just as it was – boring. I don’t want to sit by idly while life goes
on around me, doing nothing with this life I’ve been given, and ending up disappointing
my Master like the servant did. I want
the Lord to be happy that He entrusted this life to me… I want Him to be pleased
with my story.
I could go on and on, pouring all of my sleepy,
incoherent thoughts out onto the page for you to read, but I’ll leave you with
this quote from one of the books I’ve read recently. It basically sums up everything I’m thinking,
just probably in a more coherent way than I was able to express above.
“I
don't wonder anymore what I'll tell God when I go to heaven when we sit in the
chairs under the tree, outside the city… I'll tell these things to God, and
He'll laugh, I think and He'll remind me of the parts I forgot, the parts that
were His favorite. We'll sit and remember my story together, and then He'll
stand and put His arms around me and say, "Well done," and that He
liked my story. And my soul won't be thirsty anymore.” – A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
