The Big Picture

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” –Colossians 3:2-

This is something I’ve been struggling with lately. My mind has been so focused on earthly things it’s ridiculous. What are others thinking of me? Am I doing well enough in my classes? These are just a couple of the questions that have been flooding my mind lately. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the things of this world, especially now as I’m going through a big transitional period in my life. Everything that I’ve know is gone and it’s like I’m starting over again. It’s been really hard for me to answer these question that I’ve been asking myself, but God’s been trying to get it through my thick skull that it doesn’t matter how other’s think I’m doing. Am I doing everything for the glory of God? Are my thoughts and motives directed to the God who gave me life? These are the questions I should be focused on. I need to stop comparing myself to the people around me. Does their opinion really even compare to God’s? Definitely not! I need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and realize that time is ticking away and I’m sitting here worried about worldly things.

What would my life look like if I put less emphasis on my school work and started putting time into enjoying my time here and investing in the people here? I can honestly say that I’ve never regretted taking time from studying to talk with someone. I regret when I neglect people to study, though. I try to think of this when I’m debating on which I’d rather do. I agree that there is a time and a place to work hard and do your best academically for God, but don’t let it consume you. There is SO much more to life than text books and tests. Nobody is going to remember what you got on that first biology test, but they are going to remember the conversations and memories they made with you. So I guess the question I want to challenge you with is where are your priorities? What is consuming your thoughts? Is it worldly things? I know my thoughts and my priorities have been worldly, and that needs to change. There’s a bigger picture that I keep forgetting about, and God keeps reminding me to slow down and take that in. I hope you don’t forget that either. There is an opportunity for you to change someone’s life by the things you say or the things you do…don’t miss it.

College

I’ve never been much of a blogger, or someone who shares her thoughts through writing. I’ve recently given up facebook and I’ve found that there isn’t much else for me to do except read people’s blogs when I’m bored. So then I was thinking to myself, “Well Kaylee, you had to create this blog for an English class in high school and it’s just sitting here. You mine as well starting putting stuff on it, so it doesn’t look so ridiculous.” So here I am.

I am now a freshman at Wayne State College. I’m pursuing a degree in Clinical Laboratory Science. I have a lot of passion for science, and yes I know I’m a nerd. Challenging things that scare other people excited me. But recently this whole Science thing has been kicking my butt at college. The transition from high school to college is proving to be more difficult than I expected. I was used to getting really good grades and being on top in high school without really trying that hard. It all came pretty easy to me. College is definitely a whole different ball field. It seems no matter how much I study I’m still unprepared. It’s very frustrating for me, but I know I can do better. Once my brain gets used to the caliber of classes we will be good to go. I am not very patient sometimes and I feel like that’s what is happening here. I want to skip this whole “transition period” and just fit right in at college. It doesn’t work that way unfortunately.

It has definitely been a struggle these first couple months at college, but God is so good. There are so many amazing people here. God has put new friends in my life and I LOVE making new friends. That has also been a huge distraction for me at college too. I’m finding it hard to focus on school work when there are so many possibilities to be spending time with friends and meeting new people. I’m getting better slowly, very slowly. That is why I chose to give up facebook. I was finding so many things distracting, that I needed to discipline some aspect of my life. I am a firm believer in taking the time every now and then and disciplining yourself in some way. I did a devotion once where I had to fast from media for 40 days, and it was SO hard. It was so rewarding though. Everything else in my life seemed to fall into place, just because I was disciplining myself in that one aspect of my life. I am hoping that doing this fast from facebook will do the same.

So that is my life so far at college. It’s been a whirlwind of emotions, some good and some bad. God is definitely working in my life and in the lives around me, and that’s exciting! I’ll leave you guys with my favorite verse.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. ~Hebrews 11:1~