Where to go from here

  This is my last week at my internship. Many people have already asked, and I'm sure many more will, "what are you going to do now?" My answer: I have no clue. There is so much pressure in our society to be successful, and success looks different for everyone. I've never been set on one specific careerpath. Only recently have I endeavored to set up a 5-year plan, which I'm sure some of you must be surprised since it's in my nature to plan years ahead. Honestly, I've always known that my future was open, and I have no control over what will happen. So, rather than planning it out, I left it up to God to lead me in the way I should go. Right now, I feel strongly that I am to be still and seek after Him.

  Maybe I'm crazy to be waiting on divine intervention to show me where to start, but I've been relying on my own strength to get me through life since my childhood. I sought God when I needed emotional support, but I never really needed Him to get by in anything else. Instead, I worked really hard to accomplish my own idea of success.

  I'm reading Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt. It's a really good book, and I'd recommend it for anyone. Before I started reading it I had come to a realization that my perfectionism still has a hold on my life. This drives me to work really hard to be the best. That has always been my goal--in essence, to exult myself above everyone else, not just in one field, but in everything I do with no one's help. Does that not sound sickening--especially for one who calls herself a child of God? I feel convicted.

  In this book, Platt pretty much uncovers the western church's complete investment into the idea of the "American Dream," and how it goes directly against Christ's teachings. In one of the chapters, he points out that we keep on searching for God's will in our lives when He lays it out quite simply for us in His Word: we are to bring Him glory and go make disciples of all the nations. We are too comfortable and self-absorbed to respond to His commands for us. We pawn it off on people who are "called" into ministry. Certainly we can witness in our own backyard, but for so many of us, that "witness" looks a lot like keeping silent and pursuing our own goals--maybe letting people know that we are Christians and waiting for them to come to us with questions. Why have we become so timid when our God is so powerful? 

  This book further convicted me (along with a friend's sermon on being too comfortable, aptly placed at this point in my life) and I am choosing this end (of my internship) as an opportunity to truly recklessly abandon my own will to God's, taking off my pride and seeking His kingdom. I am at the end of myself. It's scary. It's uncomfortable. But, it's where God works.

The Meaning of Life

Many people search high and low for the answer to this complicated question. What is the meaning of life? It seems like an odd question to me. I would first tell anyone who'd ask me that question to look in the dictionary.

Life: (n.)

1. the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally.
2. the sum of the distinguishing phenomena of organisms, especially metabolism, growth, reproduction, and adaptation to environment.
3. the animate existence or period of animate existence of an individual: to risk one's life; a short life and a merry one.
4. a corresponding state, existence, or principle of existence conceived of as belonging to the soul: eternal life.
5. the general or universal condition of human existence...

Didn't know you could find the meaning of "life" in the dictionary, did you?

You may be familiar with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy answer of "42." If that's true, it's pretty disappointing.

I wouldn't suggest watching Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, but after much nonsense it's answer seems to be relatively adequate. "Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations."

All joking aside, this is a pretty heavy question. 

I was thinking about it this morning. 

I've come to find that we each desire to love and be loved. We were never meant to be alone. 

I believe that we were created for relationships. We can try to fill that desire with fellow humans, but we are imperfect, so our relationships will be. When we seek and find our Creator, we come to realize that a relationship with Him was what we were looking for all along. He is perfect, so He can love us perfectly. Once we find Him, it's our privilege to direct others to Him. 

When we are in relationship with our Creator, He gives us the ability to have deeper, more authentic relationships with others. Our capacity to love grows as He shows us how to do so.

Life is about this community and communion with God. 

I can't pretend to know all of the answers to life's questions. This is my imperfect attempt at answering this one, based on my personal thoughts and beliefs. What are your thoughts?