Blessings Blog

Today I'm thankful for a long but good day chaperoning college visits for a few of our high schoolers. I appreciated the time to reflect on my own college experience and the choices I encountered in that decision-making process, as well as the options available to me because of factors such as family support, hard work in high school, and some other gifts I have been born with. It was actually the first time I ever toured a college or university larger than 3000 students because I knew I wanted to go to a small school, so it was fun to see how our students received and processed each environment. I'm also thankful for the time to hang out with the students in our van - boy did we have a lot of that time! Four hours from Northfield to Fargo and back later in the day... Thank goodness for books to read, glittering snow out the windows (that really should be gone sometime soon...), and conversations with students to assess where they are at in the post-secondary discernment process.

One girl, who can be a little rough around the edges, just completely opened up to me and shared a lot of her life story so that I would understand her better, which is exactly how I like to relate to people. I like to understand some of their past to see how it has shaped their present. We cannot change our past, but we can take what we have experienced up until this point in our lives to better understand what we are called to do in the time we have left here. She explained how she ended up in a dark place as a result of a few people in her life treating her like no person should ever be treated, but that she has somehow been carried through to the light by a couple of guardian angels. I'm thankful she has been dealt some good fortune as well as had several good people advocate for her. Good work, God. 

Though they will not be perfect, may all days be good days! May you find love and joy, and may those moments outweigh whatever hardship, pain, or mess that threaten to bring you under. May you ride the waves of grace!