When Wings Grow Weary

 

After the first few weeks of college, I feel a lot like that ruffled little bird right there. It's been a rough ride some days getting used to all this flying and stuff. Lots of fun! But still some rough winds. At the end of the day, one's metaphorical wings can feel a bit tired.

I think that's something we never consider when we use that image of leaping and spreading our wings to fly. Sometimes our wings grow tired. Our novice spirits lack the endurance to push on at first. New obstacles buffet us like harsh and unexpected winds. We might lose our momentum and take a tumble, crash, and bruise. At the end of the day, when we were at first eager, we now ache. No one ever tells you your first experience flying like this can make you sore.

Now I knew going in that college was going to be different than anything else I’d ever experienced. If you read my thoughts last time you know that I already went through a lot before coming to college. I’ve carried full loads in online college and worked retail full time for almost two years. I know stressful! But College? For all the excitement I’ve had to remember that education on a college campus is a totally new and unexplored terrain. College is my first real opportunity to test what I’m really made of. When I took leap I knew it could get rough. I just didn’t expect rough to happen as fast as it did. Here’s the truth of things:

College is not the comfort of my home.

College is not a place where you do everything by your own pace.

College is not for the unadventurous heart.

Sometimes wings grow weary. But God is surely the gentle wind that lifts me back up. I’m ready to fly again today and I'm determined to take hold of the adventure ahead of me. Now's the time to be bold and brave the rough winds!

How are the rest of you holding up in your new circumstances, whatever they may be? How’s college going? If you work through the kinks it will smooth out. Next time I want to go over some challenges I’ve set for myself in college. Don’t miss it!

 

Posted with Blogsy

My Time to Fly

Coming to college is a unique experience in life. A time when young people have the chance to see what they're really made of. Every person approaches the college experience in their own way. Bringing with them their own stories of trials and joys. Our stories are precious because each one is authored by God. He is present in every moment whether we acknowledge His prescence or not. As I've met people in this new place I wish I had the time to sit and hear all their stories. 

With that in mind, I considered my own story. Some of you may already know about my long journey from graduating High School to College. But for those of you who don't, this is some of my story. I hope it encourages you as it does me on every remembrance of how God cares for His Children. 

Have you ever thought a person only gets one dose of incredible opportunity in their life? I have. And I thought I'd already used mine up by the time I was looking for a four-year college education. I seemed to be stuck. Caught in a holding pattern of frustrating, numbing circumstance. God had stopped opening doors. Instead He was actively closing them. If ever an opportunity arose I had a sneaking suspicion that God would hold me back, promising again that He had something better planned. It was hard for me to set my heart on anything. I got tired of dreaming of my future. 

Then there was a summer when I risked it all. The air tingled with promise. This was the summer for change for me and my family. I just knew it! Doors were opening for my family and I had set my sights on a door of my own. I was convinced that the college I had chosen was everything I could ever ask for. Everything about it seemed tailored to everything I loved. Surely this was what God had put me on hold for. So I walked in complete confidence that I would go there. Even as I felt resistance I pushed and pushed, refusing to let this door close when I had waited so long to have this chance. I was confused. Why would God be telling me no? I asked him for clarity and He gave it to me. No.

God crushed a dream of mine that summer. It seemed a lost cause to dream after that. I didn’t put my heart into much anymore. 

That’s why it was such a slow, creeping shock to find out that, a whole year later, I was actually getting to go to a college! The admissions process was bumpy but it didn’t bump us off the road. The finances were frightening to think about, but God provided. The transfer of all my previous years of online schooling was a huge hurdle, but it was a hurdle God took us over. I kept expecting God to shut the whole operation down. But He didn’t! Then, before I could catch up to the shock, I was here at college! 

The morning of move-in I was sitting in the hotel room watching the sun creep over the Tennessee mountains. This was it. College was no longer a distant idea but a reality. The feelings I had were hard to identify. There was something deep beneath the surface, roiling there and troubling me. Unlike my previous experiences, I didn't have bolstering dreams to urge me forward. Was I..afraid? If there was even a hint of uneasiness, was this the right thing for me to be doing? What if I had made the wrong choice? My poor, unfaithful heart, that had forsaken hoping was thrust to this edge and told, finally….

This is your time to fly.

Press on toward your high calling! I have ordained this day for you! I am waiting here for you. Be adventurous. Be willing and trusting. I am here. So jump, I have given you your moment to spread your wings and fly.

That is what I felt God whispering to me. This is why so many doors in my past had been closed. This is why He denied me the dreams of the years before. Because He had this place and this time set aside for His own purpose. I don’t know why I was afraid. But I’ve jumped! I’ve spread my wings. I’m trusting God to lift me up when I grow weary and enable me to truly soar.

Being on a college campus is a unique experience, and one I dare not waste. If God has given you a gift, whether it be a talent or a special time in your life, never waste it. Take the leap and prepare for what He has in store.