The Direction to the Springs

Image by Brendan Church

If you think back to your childhood, one question might stick out as being asked more than any other question. No, this is not “How old are you?” to which (if you were like me) you would respond with however many fingers corresponded to the answer. Instead, this question is one I’m not sure why we ask children. How would they know? How would they know, when even at our age we still might not know? This question, of course, is

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I myself cannot remember what I used as a response to this query. Maybe I beamed proudly and announced “Astronaut!” after learning about space travel that day in Elementary school. Maybe I responded “Restrauntaur,” mimicking the profession of my father, awing whatever adult heard a six year old say this uncommon word. Many years later, in what seems like a blur, I found myself in college, still unsure of what exactly I wanted to become. Majoring in Biology, I hoped to make a change in the world (Isn’t this everyone’s clichéd, yet genuine, goal?) and wanted to become a veterinarian. To make matters worse, I realized in the beginning of my Freshman year that I am no chemist, and Chemistry is a core subject in the pursuit of a Biology major. Putting it into perspective, my highest grade in General Chemistry was from the first exam, an exam covering mostly the division and multiplication of exponential numbers. For this exam, I mistakenly brought in a finance calculator, which does not have the potential to input any kind of exponent, much less multiply them. During the rest of the semester, I sought help from a tutor, yet even still I for some reason could not grasp the material. After completing Gen Chem, I knew I had to switch majors or lose my scholarship.

Have you ever reached a point in your life when none of the present options seemed remotely okay? Have you ever experienced dread, knowing that no possible direction would take you in the direction that you planned on going?

Whether you’re forced to do something because of a family matter, or unseen events occur, we have all been there when the figurative door is closed, and we are left morning the loss of something we thought would be great. Unfortunately, things do not always go our way.

Is this truly unfortunate? The phrase is that when one door closes, another opens, but what if this first "door" was really a window? What if we thought something would be great, when it pales in comparison to the thing for which we were meant? The world wants us to believe that if things do not go our way, we need to pitch a fit. We need to complain. It’s okay for us to give up and quit; at least we tried. Perhaps though, just maybe, "our way" is not The Way.

We cannot accurately answer at any age what we want to be when we have no idea what God wants us to be. We do not know where He will use us. We do not know where He will take us. Fortunately God has a plan for all of us; both unbelievers and believers are treasured in His sight, and if we let Him, He will lead us like lambs to the spring.

The future can be scary, especially for college students. Going through two different majors and recently realizing that I may have chosen the wrong path–not once, but twice–has created a lot of stress for me. For months, I debated paths I could take, not because I necessarily wanted to take them, but rather because they were the only options. Instead of praying about it, I dwelled on what would become of my future, and I grasped the wheel so tightly that I thought I would never let go again. What I forgot is that this is not my life to live. My purpose in life is not to glorify myself; I am not made to finance a nice house on the lake and send my kids to a nice private school. Life is not always nice, but it is planned. The messiness, the changes of plans, and the veering of the steering wheel are not for us. They are for Him. Our lives are not ours; they are His. We do not exist to further ourselves; we exist to further Him, and God is much better than anything "nice."

I am sure that these facts are all redundant and already-known, but for some reason college seems to be the place where these facts seem to be the most forgotten. When in the midst of parabola equations, Physics homework, and Plato’s theories, God’s truth seems to be pushed to the back. We focus on GPA’s and what GRE score we will need to get to that dream Grad school before we open our Bibles to get closer to God. We call our moms to tell them about how poorly we did on a test, yet we do not praise the fact that we made it through the week with full health. We forget that we are in an incredible school, and we are here for an incredible reason... even if that reason is not reached by our own plans.

We might not get to the career of our dreams, but we will all get to the promised spring. We just might have to go through some risen oceans first.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.