Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Learning to Love Dandelions

In the summer of 2014 a lunch meeting with a local chaplain led Andy to check out the Covenant College job board. He emailed me the specifics of an admin job that seemed to fit my skill set and...it had summers off! Yippee!

In that moment, I had no idea how the months prior to those summers off would include tear filled drives to work and heart breaking goodbyes (for elaboration on all the feels Thankful for CovenantTime and My Relational LandscapeLunch Ladies and L'Abri). I laugh when I think about how blindsided I was to find a ministry tacked onto calendar updates, emails and endless to do lists. Somehow along the way I developed a life on campus outside administrative duties and I'm so much better for it. Covenant students are literally the best this world has to offer (with the exception of one Furman Paladin) and I have been so blessed to learn from them these last few years.

I've been reminded of the value in asking questions that cannot be answered with a yes or a no. How sometimes the best thing to do is sit quietly so words recently spoken can bounce around, circle the room, reverberate and be heard by the speaker themselves. I've tried to remember that I don't have to have all the answers when I have the love of Christ to love with, the Holy Spirit to listen to and a common goal of obedience encompassed with redemptive grace. I've been blessed to see patterns in life's happenings that seem to have no connection until you watch them spiral to core issues where they can be grasped and ripped out of the deepest and darkest recesses of human hearts. The process of discipleship brings such rich joy. Learning with others how to obey and seeing God be faithful to sanctify has renewed my faith many times. Through these years at Covenant, students reminded me that loving others is my jam and one of my favorite parts about being me.

Leaving this job I've loved, while sad, is also exciting. I'm excited to take new self realization and live it out down the mountain. I have a whole 20ish years to dedicate to a new career and I can't wait to get started! I can't wait to learn all the new things from a perfect team to serve what I'm sure are always wonderful customers! In March I traveled to London with a group of students and was incorporated into the life of a church working predominantly with people of Middle Eastern decent. As I learned about Middle Eastern religions and how the true Word of God is strong enough to handle their questions, I was amazed at how important it is to take time to build relationships and assess your mission field. It made me excited for new ground, new people, new conversations in which God can prove the reality of his existence.

If the dandelions in my yard would remain small yellow flowers that are contained, organized, exactly where I want them to be, they would be easier to appreciate. However, knowing the unpredictability of their future is very frustrating. They become balls of fluffy seeds ready for the wind to swoop up and take far far away (or straight into my well groomed flower beds where I will curse them, dig them up and throw them into the woods). We rarely stay at jobs we love forever. Life brings important people into our relational landscape long enough to alter us, teach us, love us and then they go do something else somewhere else. Children learn, grow, have their own ideas that separate them as individuals with a plan of their own. I'm learning to be thankful for the time that flower was bright and contained and to appreciate the gift it is to watch the wind blow it's seeds around.

Mostly, my heart is just so filled with gratitude. I'm thankful for the fun filled three years packed with rich relationships built on a common love for a blessed Savior. Thankful for Covenant in general but mostly for the handful of students I'm taking with me. I can't wait for the phone calls, social media glimpses and especially those planned crossing of paths. I'm always ready to pray for you and with you no matter the amount of dropped calls or funny faces stuck on frozen face time screens. My life is richer because of you and I love you.

Some pics with my London peeps! #CovLondon17