Monday, October 18, 2010

Come (what) May

I am finally a good way into my senior year and there are 2 predominant questions asked of me at every family gathering, every social event, every church fellowship: 

1. “What’s your major, again?” 
2. “Oh, ok…So, what’s next?” 

Well-meaning questions, I’m sure, and even questions that I have naively heaped upon seniors who endured this path before me. While the inquirers mean well, however, their questions translate to me as: 

1.“Who are you, again?” 
2.“Oh, ok… so how will you make yourself useful to the rest of us?”   

Have I have spent nearly 4 years at this place called  “university” only to become a proud owner of an English degree? No, I'm also expected to do something about it. A degree is a badge of identity that implies that consequential action is going to sprout out of it.  
Come May 2011, I will be a college graduate. So, what will I do about it? This question plagues me—until I remember that, though that will be part of my identity after I leave college, it will never be the central component of who I am. I am God’s daughter and my actions should always sprout from that identity first and foremost.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in 1 Peter this semester and have been consistently encouraged by this point. Peter is writing to Christians who are being killed for speaking up about God’s transforming power. Peter reminds them of their identity in Christ and encourages them to continue in their proclamations:  

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

Peter understands that, while it is important for Christians to understand their identity, you can’t just stop there. God did not transform us so that we can just sit around and admire our makeovers. He changed us so that we might proclaim His good works—tell the world about the One who “called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light”! It’s a seal of identity that should naturally sprout proclamations that make Him known.

Come May 2011, I will be a college graduate. But, more than that, I will still be a part of God’s beloved people. I may not know what day-to-day work will sprout out of my English degree, but I do know that proclamations of my God’s excellencies will continue to flow from my identity in Him.

Beauty in a Barn and a Blanket of Snow

Beauty in a Barn and a Blanket of Snow