The Current State of Things

So I'm currently a student at Central Washington University, studying music education. I had some interesting thoughts today I wanted to write down.

I was walking back to the dorms from the dining hall. A lot of times, I'll take a detour through the music building since I live right across the street. I love to walk past the classrooms and hear all the performance groups play. I especially love walking past the jazz room because there's always cool music going on in there. It's really a unique experience. Where and when in life will I ever find a place like this? A building built for me to learn and play music all day long (that may be a little too literal some days), surrounded by other people who want to do the same thing?

This got me thinking about how my mind has been working lately, and what I truly want out of life right now. To some students, life after college is terrifying. School is their safe zone, and they honestly just don't know what they're going to do or how they're going to survive in the 'real world'. I always disliked that term- the 'real world'. I really don't think it's as bad as all my high school teachers made it sound. I'm pretty sure it was just a mildly effective scare tactic.

But I'm excited to get out of school. I'm excited to marry the woman of my dreams and make babies (excuse my manly terminology) and buy a beautiful house with a beautiful front lawn that will hold all of my pugs and parrots and whatever pets I pretend like I'm going to own. I'm excited to work everyday to support my family. Not just a job, but a career involving something I love to do, and meet people and have countless experiences along the way. That stage of life sounds really awesome to me, ya know?

Now school, on the other hand... Something I've never been too fond of. In my mind, I almost view it as a game. To win the piece of paper that opens up all of the job opportunities, you have have to pay a lot of money to take a lot of classes you may not even remember in a few years. But you have to play the game in order to get to where you want to be. Now don't get me wrong, I am very thankful that I get to go to school, and I think that education is invaluable. This is the mindset that I can fall in a little too easily sometimes.

So naturally, I want to win this game as quickly as I can. I want to get out of school as fast as I can so I can get to where I want to be quicker. But as I was walking through the music building today, I was thinking that that may not be the best way to be looking at things.

God doesn't just plop you down in the middle of somewhere that's completely irrelevant to the rest of your life. Every minute of everyday, you are fulfilling His perfect plan. That's not something you can escape, no matter how hard you try. And if you do try, you might get eaten by a whale.  I read about Jonah and I know how far God is willing to go... :)

But you are always right where you are for a reason. Down the road, I think things tend to become clearer. But God may never reveal to you why you went through a situation. We just have to be at peace with the fact that we did good in following the direction God pointed us in. And I believe that God is ALWAYS teaching us something. I think everyday, there are new lessons to learn. The important thing is to listen. If we fill our lives up with this spiritual noise, we can let a lot of opportunities pass us by.

For me, this vision I have of my future tends to get in the way of the present. I'm so set on the end goal and just getting past this present stage, I let so many opportunities pass me by. And the funny thing is, is that this "end goal" is really not the end in any way. I know that I will get to that point of my life, and realize that there is still so much to look forward to.

So, I realized this while walking through the music building. For now, the future isn't the right thing to focus on. God has put me in the middle of Ellensburg, and even though it's in the middle of nowhere, there is a lifetime of work to do here. So why am I wasting time daydreaming about the future that will inevitably come? I'm gonna seize the opportunities God has presented me with and make the best of the circumstances God has blessed me with. And the best part is, is that I won't be the only one benefiting from this realization. I pray that as Christians, we can all be a blessing to everyone we come in contact with everyday.