This week I started my practicum at JCBodyshop. I was stoked to do so, considering I have been desiring to help out since I first discovered there was a youth group on campus! On Sunday, I spent an hour in the morning hanging with the kids during their Sunday school time, an hour with some middle school girls that night for small group, and thirty minutes with the other leaders of the small group for dinner. We simply hung out, got to know each other, shared thoughts about priorities and desires and prayed together. It was a pretty chill first day. Each and every girl I met in my small group blessed my day and I cannot wait to get to know the other teens better.
What I most desire during this time is to not "be the leader" but to be lead: by God and by those around me. I never want to stop learning, stop searching, or stop discovering the special qualities (fingerprints of God) that these young men, women, and leaders hold. Quite honestly, I tend to separate myself from middle school years (it was not the best time in my life) and so, I forget the simplistic, yet humorous, lives of the kids. They excitedly talk about what they are learning, who their friends are, what they're invovled in, and yet, still listen to each other. Something that really hit me though, was their heart for others. I think we took between five and 10 minutes just taking prayer requests. I listed a praise that dealt with something in mhy life, but the girls in my small group constantly remembered the needs of others. It is so humbling.
My spiritual life this week has been in a fluctuation. I know what I desire, what I long for, but fail to obtain the right attitiude for that day or selfless outlook. Lately, I have been dealing with the brutal fact that my selfishness has taken ahold of my life in a way that it never should have. Thankfully, God is slowly cleansing me of that, but I still cling to me alot. It is amazing to spend time outside of myself (as uncomfortable as it may be sometimes) to invest in others. There is so much more to life, to college, to IWU than Haley Pearson. Over 3,000 reasons walk the campus everyday.
About Me
- Hales
- Everyday I strive to learn more about my Savior, to be more like Him, to show His face to a lost world. My story is His and every aspect of it is such a blessing!
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." - Lao Tsu
1 comment:
THis is definitely going to be an amazing experience for all of us! There is a bliss that goes in initially meeting the students. I like what you said about leading as well. We are not the "leader", but we are still called to lead others with our lives. That is a very refreshing feeling, because always being the "leader" can weigh you down. I think most of us have that struggle with completely letting it all go. There are so many variables that we have to account for and we have to examine our lives so much. It can be exhausting, and by that time its basically just like "well God I have gone this far, just let me take it the rest of the way".
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