My dad is one of my best friends. Everyday, he texts me, checking in to see how I’m doing, and everyday, he emails me the St. Louis Art Museum’s Object of the Day, oftentimes with a little message at the bottom that reads something along the lines of, “LOVE YOU: VERY PROUD OF YOU.” As someone who doesn’t always find favor with who she sees in the mirror, I love reading these words because by having them in text, I can go back to them and read them over and over again, as many times as I need to in order to believe them. Yet I wonder why I don’t do the same thing with my Bible. Maybe because the Bible was penned over two-thousand years ago, it doesn’t always seem relevant or feel real. But as I’m learning, God’s love is still true today, even when I can’t see it.
More often than not, when I can’t see God’s love, I lose sight of my identity and start comparing myself to those around me; for at a school where everyone is so fixated on making and maintaining connections, I sometimes forget that I already know and am loved by the One who will connect me to everything I need, in this life and in the next. Every good and blessed thing that has brought me to where I am today was orchestrated by God; everything simply fell into place at the right time, after I followed my heart and did what my soul needed, not what the world wanted. I’ve worked too hard at the things my soul calls me towards to simply brand this as luck, yet I also have been the recipient of too many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to say I got here on my own. For life is not about who has the longest resumé or most activities accomplished; it’s about living my life to its fullest and doing what I love. God will take care of everything else.
In my day-to-day interactions, I meet far too many people who purely do what they do because they believe it will get them “ahead.” But what are they getting ahead of? Where are they supposed to be? Because each season of life has its own harvest, and if we blow through all of life’s transformations without a breath, we’ll miss the fruit of that labor. We’ll miss all of the beautiful mornings and breathtaking views because we simply wanted to keep going instead of giving thanks to where we’re at and listening to what our souls long for.
God has a special purpose for each of our lives, and if we don’t slow down enough to listen, we’ll live someone else’s dream, not our own. So do it all for you. Run at sunrise for you. Walk in the moonlight for you. Go to class for you. Do it all for you both, and God will meet you there.
Last Love 