rebelling against low expectations
Dear Teenager Who Doesn’t Know What To Do With Their Life, First, take a deep breath. In. Out. There you go. My heart goes out to you for the weight on your shoulders. I get it. I was on my knees this morning, asking God why. You see, I made a plan about what to do next with my life, but last night it fell through — again. I paced the living room. Tears might come later, but last night I was just...
On April 24th it dawned on me—I was already halfway through my 25th year. Time slips by all too lightning fast. I felt the ache of wishing my life were different, the pressure to “catch up” with cultural expectations of where everyone my age should typically be. Where was I really? No boyfriend or husband. No college degree. No babies. Yet, I have traces of those things. I’m currently using a...
My family and I were headed to an American Heritage Girls’ scouting camp out for my younger sisters. As we were driving, I scrolled through Instagram. A coworker (who is the same age as me) posted pictures of her and her husband vacationing in Nashville. It looked like they were having a great time! As my family drove through the desert, my thoughts wandered to my dear friend who I’d been...
One year ago, I made a different kind of new year’s resolution. My resolutions used to look like “Get healthier” and “Be more consistent at practicing my instruments.” Last year, I shared on theReb my decision to forget about those resolutions (which I never manage to stick to anyway) and do something more like a challenge I challenged myself to write down one thing every evening for which I was...
The dawn of a new year is swiftly approaching, and with it comes the famed New Year resolutions. If I were to guess, one of the most popular New Year resolutions for Christians is some sort of Bible reading plan. Most of us want to improve our daily habits for our time in Scripture. For some, that means reading the Bible more consistently. For others, it means extending mere reading into a...
I have last year’s goals spread out before me. Some practical: Work out two days a week. Get to bed by 10:30 each night. Some ministry and work related: Write book two. Redesign website. Some spiritual: Study the Bible in a deeper way. Be consistent with my prayer time each day. If the beginning of a year is anything, it’s a time for casting vision. Dreaming. Planning. Making new goals and...
It was a week before our end year concert. The orchestra director made a few announcements that I didn’t hear. I could only seem to listen to my heart beating, my blood rushing, my breath passing through my mouth. Eventually, she passed around the seating chart. It felt like the violins and violas were taking as long as possible to examine the chart. Then it reached the cellos. Time seemed to...
rebelling against low expectations
