The Right Thing.

     There are some things that are difficult to write about, even for someone like me who likes writing and maybe could be considered good at it. Things like disappointment, confusion, and failure. I have been learning recently that sometimes the right thing and the easy thing aren't the same thing, and it's a hard lesson. Unless you're in elementary school or living an outlandishly spoiled lifestyle somehow, you're not always going to get rewarded for doing the right thing, and you may even feel hurt and sad. You may lose opportunities that look good on the surface, and friendships that are comfortable even if they are not entirely functional. So what's the point? Why keep doing what you know is right if it's making you unhappy, and why say no to things that aren't right for you if you could probably get by doing them and be just fine, and maybe even happier? I've been thinking a lot about this lately, and this verse came to my mind. 

If I just do what will make me happy now, even if I feel that it's not what God is calling me to do, I ignore His plan and probably miss out on something better He has planned for the future. But if I endure this sadness now, there could be greater things in the future that I don't know about yet. I know that I will sometimes fail at this because I am young, human and flawed. I know that I still feel sad sometimes even though I am doing the right thing. But in the end, when God's plan is finally revealed more fully and I can look back on this time with a different perspective, maybe then, in the end, the right thing will be the easy thing.

It Was Good

     Sometimes life doesn't happen the way you plan for it to. Sometimes, despite what you're told when you're little, you try your best and it still isn't enough. And sometimes, when you're trying to write a blog post whining about how hard life is, your WiFi stops working.
     So let's regroup. College is hard. Mission trips, and lots of other things, are expensive. People change and so do friendships. Doing what you know is right doesn't always feel rewarding immediately, maybe never. Life is just tough sometimes, and I've really been feeling that lately. But there are so many good things happening at the same time, and in the 30 seconds the WiFi stopped working, I thought about them.
     I have lots of good friends, some exciting plans for the summer, and confidence that most of the decisions I have made for myself are steering me in the right direction, even if I am travelling at a painfully slow pace. Everything is okay, and I think sometimes we just need to pause and remember that. Lately whenever I feel really stressed, a Bible verse has been coming to my mind that reminds me that everything will be just fine. When God created the world, he saw that it was good. He knew what he was doing, and he still does. We can only see our lives from the place where we are at the moment, but God can see what's ahead of us, because it's what he created for us. And he saw that it was good.