Back to the Grind

Hey there friends!

I hope this post finds you doing well in the hustle and bustle of another school year. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I have only 2 more semesters left of college. In reality I have to repeat the refrain "2 more semesters 2 more semesters" when I wake up at 6:30am for my classes.

I was sitting in class yesterday morning and my professor inquired why I was so early every day. First off (although I did not mention this to him) I wanted to prove to him that I could be on time. I had him for Illustration last year and was perpetually late. I continued to inform him that I have an strenuous, yet effective, alarm clock system which operates as follows:

Step 1: The alarm clock next to my bed is set but sometimes unreliable.
Step 2: Another alarm clock across the room set 5 minutes later than step 1 even though its buzz is slightly pathetic.
Step 3: My cellphone is set 10 minutes after step 1 and rests on my dresser diagonally from my bed. I usually never hear this alarm. Occasionally I set more than one alarm on my cell phone just for precautionary reasons.
Step 4: I have my iHome set with my iPod to go off in melody with step 1. I crank the volume and every morning David Crowder wakes me up screaming at the top of his lungs.
Step 5: A second alarm clock located next to step 1 that goes off 15 minutes from step 1. This is to ensure that in the process of turning off all of these alarms that I haven't simply hit snooze on all of them and proceed to sleep through my classes.

This might seem extreme but I think this system has been 3 years in the making. It takes an act of Congress or the tornado siren to wake me up from a deep sleep. Sad, but so very true. I am happy to report that I have yet to miss any of my classes.

Speaking of classes they're going well. Granted we have yet to hit the harder stride of assignments but I will suffer through.

I must confess to you that over the summer I had forgotten how insufferably busy college life is for me. I don't know how to express the hectic nature of my life in Auburn but I do believe it has the potential to drive any sane person to the state of utter madness in which I reside daily.

Now, the average individual would make the assumption that college students have "tons of free time". Jim, our campus minister, would make us plot out our schedules as freshmen to see how much time we really had on our hands. I did this and as soon as my "calendar" was completed I laughed. It was full. Of what, you might ask and it was the following: church.

"Oh splendid Megan! You're doing what you need to do!" replied those sitting around me.

Really? Am I REALLY doing what is best? One thing I learned this summer while I was in Africa was that I had forgotten how to breath; not literally of course but spiritually speaking. I had forgotten how to soak in the simple presence of God. As I sat in the middle of the Village of Hope listening to the kids laughing and the birds in the trees it hit me like a brick in the face. Life at Auburn was complex. I saw myself running from one church session to another, from small group to prayer group to devo to church on Sunday to Speak rehearsal to making tshirts for the ACSC or the AUCoC or Encounter or Invisible Children meetings...I mean the list goes on and on.

Don't misread me - these things are wonderful and I enjoy each of them. At the same time I need you to understand what that is like. On top of having the voice of school screeching in my head: "You have a paper due in Art History, a lab to finish in Biology, 3 paintings due by Thursday, a logo proposal in a week" on top of my physical body shouting: "I'm hungry! When was the last time you showered? Are you ever going to see more than 4 hours of sleep!? What about exercise? Stop eating so much cheese and drinking gallons of caffeine!" In chorus is the domestic voice: "You haven't washed clothes in 2 weeks. Your room is a disaster zone. Have you seen the study? There's art supplies every where. Your car hasn't seen a good washing in 4 months. Is something growing under the seat cushion? Have you deposited that check?" Let's not forget the design mantra: "Where is the tshirt design for the ER crew? Why haven't you done an ACSC tshirt yet? Why haven't you emailed me those jpegs for the website? Where is that logo? What about the tshirt design for fill-in-the-blank?" Oh there's more, the relationship voice: "Where have you been Megan we haven't hung out in ages!? Have you been spending enough time with ACSC people? People from studio? Friends in your new classes? Freshmen? Your family?"

I'm not complaining. I know everyone has those kind of voices in their head. It doesn't change when you graduate, or move, or get married, or have a family. In all of that, the resounding question is "Where is Jesus?" I think I ask that question every single day. That was always an easy question to answer this summer. He was right there in my face and in the center of all that I did. I can't help but feel that I've suffocated him with my schedule.

God doesn't need a grand performance to prove that we love Him. All of my life I thought on some level I had to perform for God. I knew that my works were not enough but through the church I some how dug up the idea that if I wasn't filling my time then people would whisper "She's falling from the way."

In all actuality I want to learn how to truthfully and honestly "Be still" to know that "He is God". I want to fall into the way - the way of Christ. So that's what I'm doing this semester.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

ps: Read Colossians. It rocked my face right off tonight, as a matter of fact I'm still looking for it...