Day 1, Year 2, Semester 4

These are some things that I like:

1) Chocolate

2) Good music

3) The color blue

4) Roses

5) Being in a routine

These are some things that I do not like:

1) Spiders

2) Bitterly cold days

3) Scary movies

4) Saying goodbye

5) Change

I’m currently contending with #5 on both the “like” list and the “do not like” list. Wishing for the first #5 and strongly disliking the second one. Beginnings of semesters are not my favorite times of year. It’s not that I don’t like reuniting with friends or being back at college or anything even close to that. I’ve missed GCC a lot, and even despite the currently ridiculously-freeezing-single-digit-makes-me-want-to-cry temperatures, I’m so happy to be back. But even still, there are always the first couple of days of classes that include a lot of “Whats” and “Whens” and “Wheres” and “Hows” that I wish I could fast forward through in order to get to the time where I’m used to my schedule and daily routine.  This being my fourth semester, getting used to new schedules thankfully has become much easier than it was my freshman year. But it shows me very clearly that I am not often a huge fan of change.

However, despite my feelings on the matter, the expression “The only constant in life is change” has some truth to it. Even when I get “more used to” how my schedule works, and even when life eventually and seemingly starts to go “more smoothly,” it’s amazing how things can easily turn on a dime.

If you had asked me last week what today might have looked like, I’m pretty sure my answer would have been dead wrong. Today, I didn’t expect to have to run on around 3 hours of sleep. Or think that I would learn so much about how much I don’t know. Or imagine that I would be putting together plastic pink flamingos.

The unsettling thing is that in life, more often than not, you really just don’t know.

But I’m starting to really grasp that uncertainty, lack of clarity, and change don’t all have to be scary. Because even when day-to-day life gets hectic, or when things that I thought would have stayed the same forever start to change, or when I wonder what surprises tomorrow holds, I realize that I still have a Constant to hold on to that will never, ever change.

These are some things that I know for sure:

1) That I have been redeemed by Jesus Christ.

2) That my Savior loves me personally, passionately, individually, and despite my flaws.

3) That He knows what is best for me.

4) That He will NEVER let anything happen to me other than what is best for me.

5) That I do not ever have to worry about my life or change or anything, because God is always, always, ALWAYS in control.

“Through all the changing scenes of life,
  In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still
  My heart and tongue employ.”