I believe there are two types of people in this world: people who relate to the phrase "if it ain't broke don't fix it" and people who relate to the phrase "variety is the spice of life". I find myself siding with the latter of the two. My family, on the other hand, would relate to the former. I like to joke around that I'm the black sheep of the family - but I'm slightly not joking.
For example, I tease my mom a lot because she takes a piece of grilled chicken with cucumbers and tomatoes every day for lunch. She also loves to make this garden salad that only has romaine, cucumbers, tomatoes, and purple onion as the side salad to all of our dinners. My dad is the same way. Since my freshman year of high school, he has taken an English muffin with peanut butter and jelly every morning for breakfast. He also, for years, ordered the exact same thing from his favorite restaurant every time we went - which was once a week at one point. My parents are what I like to call "creatures of habit". They go to the same restaurants, eat the same foods, wear the same style clothing they have for years, etc. Not saying there is anything wrong with that. It's just not the life for me.
I actually find it to be a strange phenomenon. I feel like I am always looking for change. I love new places, new experiences, new foods. I love to be challenged, to grow, to learn - which are all great things that come with change...until it leads me to where I am right now. Ever since I moved home, I've wanted to leave again. I'm back to this feeling of familiarity, to the comfort I had growing up, to the constant routine - and I'm going stir crazy. I grow most when I'm in the midst of discomfort so I currently find myself discontent because the challenge is no longer there. It's hard to transition from four years of constant growth to feeling like you're going backwards. For the longest time I was feeling like change was in order. I needed to move out of my house, get my own place, get a new job, etc. At one point it didn't matter what changed, I just needed something to be different. And since I couldn't change those three aforementioned circumstances, something else had to give. So I would make sure to check out different restaurants, try to come up with different ideas of activities to do with friends, even switch up my routine at work - and it helped a little. But I always ended up riding the line: if I am supposed to make the most of every one of these fleeting days, how am I supposed to be okay with these constant routines? The answer came a few weeks ago, when I heard a sermon that struck a very personal chord. It was based on the Message version of Romans 12:1-2: "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." Pastor David summed it up by saying, "we must accept the reality of ourselves before we can allow for change". And there it was, the reality of my situation, my first big lesson of 2016. This everyday life, this so called ordinary life was set apart for me, just as it is for you. We are placed exactly where we are as a reminder to fix our eyes on the One who matters most. We feel this deep desire to be doing something fulfilling with our lives, but we forget that what is the most satisfying to our souls is to be known and transformed into the beings we are envisioned to be. And the only One who can fully know and transform us is God Himself, who changes us from the inside out. It made me realize that maybe all along, maybe this constant desire for a change in my external circumstances, stemmed not from the circumstances themselves, but instead from the way I viewed them. Maybe changing my perspective, my idea of what would bring meaning to each day, would break the dissatisfaction. Maybe contentment was to be found in the day-to-day, in the times where we need God to remind us of what's important, in the times where we are so reliant on Him to give our lives meaning. These are the moments we find meaning in the mundane, the moments we realize that God gave us the ability to make each day extraordinary. All we need is a shift in perspective. And while changing one's mindset, or perspective, is something that is done over time, I have taken small steps to kickstart that change. I make sure that I stay up to date on current issues in the world, read thought provoking quotes and ideas, and even make sure I read the simple phrase, choose joy, each morning because, to be honest, it takes a conscious effort to be happy every day. But most importantly, along with spending time daily with the Lord, I gave myself a goal for 2016 that I will be able to look back on with this new perspective and see just how far I've come. Every night before bed, I write down four things about that day:
My hope is that over time, you too see how important it is to embrace the here and now. It is great to have goals and dreams for your life, but if we focus too much on the future, we miss out on all that we have right here. Take a deep breath. Take a look around. There is beauty and meaning where you are right now. May you fall in love with your (extra)ordinary life.
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December 2016
AuthorTara | 22 | Gordon College '15 Categories |