Of Mice and Me

“The best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry.”

Yeah, that phrase is cliche’...
But it still rings true.

Lately, I’ve been pondering what it actually means to plan something. I’ve seen a lot of my friends frantically trying to figure out what they want to do after graduation, wondering how a certain situation will get resolved, etc. Still, most (if not all) of them have grand ideas and high hopes for the future.

I have many grand ideas of what I’d like to see myself doing after graduation, but that does not mean a thing. Economies change. Circumstances change. Priorities change. What we think is ideal doesn’t always happen. Nothing is ever certain; we just make our plans and hope for the best. That’s the best we can do.

BUT, there is hope, and that's a comfort. Having hope for the future requires one to place a great deal of trust in something. I choose to place my trust in God and what he has planned.

What’s that one Bible verse I always heard growing up? Oh yeah--

‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’ ~ Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

He has plans for me, and I have to trust that they’re better than my own.

This summer was not what I had planned. I had grand ideas of gallivanting off to some other country to meet my university’s cross-cultural trip requirement then coming back to the U.S. and getting a great internship in another city. I, instead, have been taking classes and working in my hometown because I was a bit short on the money I needed to make those plans happen. I’m not complaining though. That just goes to show that my plans do go oft awry.

So, I’m learning to trust that my plans, as grand as I usually think they are, may not always need to happen when or how I think they should happen. My original ones might not have been the best for me right now. I’ve had such realizations about other things in the past. Hindsight is 20/20, you know. I’m just glad my God puts up with me and my superfluous plans.

Looking back and looking forward

Time is a tricky thing.
It always gets away from me.
Despite that, I always look forward to new things.
It's important for me to try to make the most of the time I have.
This new year has so many possibilities.
As I look forward, I also want to take the opportunity to look back.

Last year was amazing.
Many people would use the term 'amazing' to describe the past year, but, in my life,
there were many profound experiences that could not be described any other way.

If I had to think of just one word to sum up all of my experiences, that word would
be "firsts".

There were so many firsts.

To name a few things, 2008 saw me:

• Graduating from high school

12 years was a long time!

• Having a semi-definite idea of what I want to do for a living for the first time.

I want to do something with journalism, and, once I get my mind set on something
it's hard to tear my thoughts away from it.

• Moving away from home for the first time.

I had never lived away from my family. Yet, I was surprised to find that some of the people I would meet at college would come pretty close to being family.

• Learning to be more independent that I ever have.

I do my own laundry now, among many other things. :-)

• Settling into a new lifestyle of responsibility.

I find that people depend on me now more than ever before. Whether it be in school,
work, or clubs on campus, I stay busy! It is stressful sometimes, but another
'first' has been learning to manage everything.

The most amazing thing in the midst of everything that happened was that God was with me each day of the year.
There were days that I sat in my dorm room crying to God because I had no idea what I was doing.
There were also days that I thanked God
for every new thing I experienced and every new person I met.
He has been the only constant in life when everything around me has been changing.
Every day.
I am so amazingly blessed.

Last year was truly amazing!
Here's to another amazing year...