A New Year, A New Purpose

Well, that long awaited week when our lives change abruptly from uneventful relaxation to really working as we should has finally come. Right now, James is on base preparing to begin his next phase of pilot training - TOMORROW. (So crazy!) He will have one more night with nothing specific to do before he jumps back into working 12 hour days and studying at night. We have definitely enjoyed getting to spend so much time together since we got married, and it will be a hard transition for the both of us. I know he feels bad about leaving me at home alone for that long every day, but I also know he's really excited to finally move on in his career and start flying again. There's nothing better than feeling like you are doing something meaningful with your life. 

I'm excited to find ways to support him as he is so busy...whether it's packing him lunches or making sure dinner is on the table when he gets home, quizzing him on his memorization or finding ways to help him relax once his work is finished. How well he does in this next phase of training determines the course of our future so I want to do anything and everything I can to help him succeed.

Over the past few days, I've been thinking a lot about what I am going to do with myself during the long hours that he is at work. I've got plenty of things to keep me occupied - I have a whole stack of books I would like to read, tons of new movies to watch, a few art projects, and I've started trying to exercise more... But, I think that stuff is all selfish busy work, and is not really benefiting me much. I've come to terms with the fact that the past seven months were meant as a time for rest and relationship building for me and my husband. But now that he is off working, I feel like I should also be doing something purposeful with my time and talents. I don't have a job outside the house, and photo work is extremely limited...but I still want to have something tangible to show for my time in Del Rio.

Recently, I've received a lot of encouragement to write. An idea has been swimming around in my head for the past couple of months, and I have finally decided to act on it. As many of you know, I was invited to fly out to Carbondale this past October and speak as an alumni at the InterVarsity Fall Retreat. The theme of the weekend was learning to thrive in college. If you think about it, there are a ton of books out there about how to survive in college...but if that's all you're aiming for, what happens if you fall short of the goal? The IV leaders felt it was important to challenge the students (especially the freshman) to dig deeper into the Spirit and commit to really making the most of their college experience. The idea of thriving in college has continued to intrigue me since then, and I've decided to try to write a book on the subject. It probably won't come to anything, but I know myself and my God well enough now that I know I shouldn't continue to ignore this creative impulse.

It was really cool because I made the decision to really try and do this late on Saturday night (I usually have my craziest and most creative thoughts late at night...) and then, as usual, I woke up on Sunday morning asking myself - "What was I thinking??" But then we went to church and Pastor Joe gave a sermon on persisting in your faith. At the end of the sermon he stepped out from behind the podium and said, "If God's given you a dream, I want you to persist in it." Wow. I always think it's awesome how God can speak to you directly from a sermon, even if it was written with a completely different purpose in mind. I definitely needed to hear that word of divine encouragement.

I have a dream - and it's to help inspire and enrich the lives of college students all over the country. So, I'm going to try this out and see how it goes. At the very least, it will give me something to do every day, and will - I'm sure - help me learn and grow in my faith as well. So wish me luck!!