Things I’ve Learned

Things I’ve Learned Since Coming to Moody that are Neither Academic nor Spiritual:

• Big Burger Thursday = Pizza Day
• The Red Line always, always, always smells bad.
• Taco Tuesday is only worth it if you get there before the second section of NT or OT gets out
• The bakery on the way home from church has no entrance.
• If I fail a quiz because I was on the phone with a crying friend, I’ll actually remember it.  If I pass the quiz, I’ll forget.
• I’ve been missing out on a lot of good movies.
• There’s no substitute for a sky full of real stars.
• I really, really, really love my family.
• The pace I need to walk to ensure that I never have to open my own door when there are guys in the group 😉
• The exact number of minutes it takes to get from my room to Sweeting 3 (seven), Alumni Auditorium (two if I take the stairs, five for elevators), or Torrey-Gray (five) for class or chapel.
• How many times I can hit the snooze button and still have time to make coffee, brush my teeth, and put my hair in a ponytail (up to three).
• The subtle differences in accents between Michiganders, Minnesotans, Missourians, and Pennsylvanians.
• CPO is generally a disappointing place.
• The amount of pride I have for my state is ridiculously large, even given the number of Michiganders who attend Moody.
• I’ll never be able to refer to us as “Moodies” without feeling like a ridiculous poser.
• Don’t walk to Ghetto-Donald’s in the dark without boys.
• I don’t care if bro-sis is an elaborate matchmaking scheme, I love those guys like we were actually brothers and sisters.
• Whistling is maybe more obnoxious than any other noise (except gum chewing/snapping)
• Road trips with college friends are infinitely greater than road trips with high school friends (except the road trip where Jocie and I went to GR with a trunk full of Value-Zone food. That has yet to be topped).
• Every band I want to see comes to Chicago. This is one reason I am very, very thankful for my job.
• It’s hard to find concert buddies when you like obscure bands that most Christian homeschoolers have never heard of (ie, NOT Chris Tomlin or Hillsong…)
• Dude. Immune systems are incredible.
• Commons meal replacements are the way to go.
• Being sick at college sucks, but it’s better when you have friends to make you macaroni and cheese.
• It’s almost as easy to pick out Moody students wandering the city as it is to pick out tourists.
• Tourists, in general, are really naive.
• Food is expensive.
• I’m a really slow laundry-folder.
• I’m not as good at photography/school/graphic design as I once thought I was.
• I love the view of the skyline from Oak Street Beach.
• I know what Oak Street Beach is and how to get there.
• I like coffee and spinach.
• I just might enjoy city life as much as I enjoy country life.

The Things We’ll Remember

Five girls sit huddled close together on the floor as beds and chairs stand empty.  Appendages are tangled together – an arm slipped through another arm, legs piled on top of each other, a head on a shoulder, a hand stroking hair.  Prayers mingle with tears and laughter.  Half-finished homework is strewn across the room, abandoned for more important things.

———

These are the things we’ll remember ten, twenty, even fifty years from now.  We won’t remember which quiz we failed or which assignments we turned in late, but we’ll remember the reasons why.  We’ll remember the late nights spent speaking out the hard truths, the early mornings we dragged ourselves out of bed to go to breakfast.  We’ll forget the terms and references we crammed into our brains at 3 am the night before an exam, but we’ll remember the people we were cramming with, the late nights at coffee shops and the long walks back.  We’ll remember the things that can’t be taught in classrooms.

Being His Hands

This is a picture I found on Buzzfeed’s Most Powerful Images of 2011.  The caption simply read, “Christians protect Muslims during prayer in Cairo, Egypt.”

Tears pooled under my eyelids when I read the caption. You know why? Because as the body of Christ, this is what we are called to do.

To realize that Christ died for all mankind.

And to simply show love in whatever way we can.

Stretched Thin, Spread Out, Worn Down

Sometimes, feelings bottle up inside and the only way to sort them out is to write them. This blog post is a result of those feelings. It may not make complete sense, and I promise that I’m not looking for your pity. Sometimes, I just need to share. Thanks for “listening.”

I should begin by saying I realize that my life is great. I am entirely aware of how blessed I am.  I’m a student at one of the top Bible colleges in the world. I have a solid group of friends who prop me up when I’m too weak to stand on my own. I have finally found a home church, and joined a Gospel Community there. I’m in classes for my major now, I have a job that I love, and my basic needs are met: food, water, shelter, etc.  If you look at my life on the surface, it’s “pretty great, actually.” In fact…

“I’m fine.”
“I’m doing great.”
“Life is good.”

These are all things I’ve told people over the last few weeks.  But they aren’t entirely accurate.

I’m balancing 17 credit hours, 15 hours a week of work, homework, Puente, 5North Min Team, PCM, some semblance of a social life, and sleep.  Actually, “balancing” is the wrong word.  It would be more accurate to say that I’m “precariously juggling” all of those things. And then there’s the fact that, as a human being,I’m required to experience a certain amount of feelings.  I lost one of my closest friends over Christmas break and I’m trying to find time to just be sad for a minute.  I sat in the hallway for over an hour, crying with another friend over her deep hurt. I’ve started counseling to deal with the hurt from our church split last spring. I’m actually homesick this semester, especially for my little brother. There is increasing tension in my group of friends that needs to be dealt with. Between my lack of sleep and the knowledge that each day will bring a lot more stress, it has become increasingly difficult to stop hitting the snooze button.

I’m stretched thin, spread out, worn down. If I could wave a magic wand to get anything I wanted, it would be a long weekend on a beach with a pillow, my Bible, my journal, and some music.  I long for sunshine and warmth, for the laughter and freedom that summer brings.  I want to spend a few days at the farm on Cole Rd, cooking for Nana and Papa, watering the steer, and rocking in the corner of the living room reading old issues of Farm and Ranch. I want to go to East Lansing with Maggie and Jocie and eat at Chipotle and go to Bubble Island and talk for hours.

None of those things are options right now. Instead, I snag a few free minutes to journal each day. I take time to breathe and relax before I fall asleep. Coffee is my new best friend, and I’ve started eating breakfast in an effort to have more energy throughout the day.  Sometimes I pause to stare at a wall for a few moments. Gospel Community is a welcome time to break out of the “Moody bubble” and share life with people outside of my daily circles. I make myself find joy in the little things. I remind myself that I am a wretched, awful sinner, but Jesus loves me in spite of myself. My roommate listens to me complain. I look at pictures of sunshine and beaches and summer. I hug people a lot. Gramma Kelci gives me frequent back massages. Sometimes, like last night, I drop everything and do something spontaneous with my friends. When none of those things work, I hide under my covers and talk to Jesus until I fall asleep.