I am back on The Hill and almost settled in. I have to finish building a small shelf and pick up 4 boxes of stuff I mailed up from Florida, and finish buying textbooks, and sort through papers. I love this place and am almost giddy as I anticipate the beauty of changing seasons that is just around the corner.
Thursday was a good day of travelling, made surpassing-cool when I ran into Jim & Becky Dietz on the plane from Atlanta to Minneapolis and then got to hang out with them at the baggage claim instead of feeling that odd "I'm not in Florida but not really here yet" feeling. That made more than my day. I've been smiling about it all weekend.
Friday my roommate (Aileen) and I moved in. We love our room and our building and our location on campus and the freedom of not being involved in the uncomfortable, time-consuming, silly routine of freshman orientation.
I will post pictures in a week or so once our room is really as it should be. It is spacious and tidy and looks surprising unlike a typical dorm room. We are really happy with it. We have a beautiful view from our beautiful window and everything about the building is charming. (It was built in the 1930s.)
Saturday was an intense day, working out in the sun serving food and setting up and taking down picnic stations for freshmen picnics for six hours. After that Aileen and I went to Target with Kenny and Emily to do the obligatory moving-in shopping.
Today was a lovely day of being back at church for the first time. (Mom, the prelude was Like a River Glorious. Kathryn, we sang our song.) I played hymns in Boe for an hour this afternoon (it was so fun to play that instrument/space again!) and then went and got ice cream with Kenny. I ate dinner with Kenny and Emily and then just got back from a lovely long walk down in the wetlands at the foot of the hill we are on, watching the sunset and praying and thinking through the coming year.
True to form, I have injured myself already. This morning I brilliantly managed to slam two fingers of my right hand in the latch of the Shaver's van door. They are pretty badly bruised and getting more and more tender as time progresses. It hurt to play organ this afternoon. But it's nothing that won't be mostly healed by the time classes start.
Tomorrow and Tuesday will be busy, both days beginning with cafeteria shifts at 6 or 6:30 in the morning. Monday I get off at 2:30 and then we have a big reunion outing planned. Tuesday I work two caf shifts with a registration shift in between, leaving me only two hours of break from 6 am to 8 pm. But I'm chipping away at my work study award, which is important.
It is good to be back in Minnesota. I find myself so peaceful and joyful and rested when I'm here. Once again my nausea has disappeared (though my allergies are back). I love this campus and I love what God is doing in my life in this season. I love the faculty and staff here and find them to be inspiring, dear people, into whose lives God has poured a remarkable measure of His common grace.
Most of my friends return to campus tomorrow and I don't feel ready to see them. I love school for the professors and classes and solitude, and not so much for the social life (it takes time and emotional energy and offers very little reward). I love my friends here and am thankful for how God is using them in my life and how He is, I hope, using me in theirs. And it is good to have friends to relax and learn and live with. But I have so enjoyed these first three days that I'm not ready for all the varied dynamics of many, many people to re-enter the mix.
Classes start Wednesday and I am so eager for that. But for me the real school year begins a week from tomorrow, since Thursday through Sunday I will be in Steamboat Springs, Colorado for my cousin's wedding. When I do get back it will be a treat to dive into studies and routine and hopefully find rest, safety, joy, and growth in it.
One of the best things about this year is my roommate. Last night we went to bed at the same time and, at her bidding, we prayed together before we went to sleep. This is so different from last year and adds a measure of sweetness to a cup that I find already overflowing. It feels life cannot get much better.
Things you can pray for...
My strength in the next two days and the efficiency to finish all that remains to be done to prepare for classes to start despite the long work hours I have.
Holiness and strength to remain who I am--seated with Christ in the heavenly places and setting my mind on things above--while surrounded by the folly of so many of my peers, whom I love dearly though they are so far from God.
Opportunities for the gospel and boldness that I may speak as I ought to speak.
Strength of heart and fear of the Lord that I may not fear those who have no fear of Him, especially in the music composition field. They seem to thrive, and it is easy for me to be simultaneously attracted and intimidated.
God's work and testimony through me of the transforming power and sweetness of the gospel, and the strength for living in strong service to Him to be evident to all I work with, especially to my professors.
A supernatural measure of self-discipline for myself as I work this year on living out 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 in many areas of my daily life; grace, at the same time, to remain mindful of God's compassion and mercy. (It's all a balance.)
Quickness and strength of mind and body to meet the academic challenges and opportunities I will face.
The ability to grow in my winsomeness and sympathy for those blinded to their foolish worldview, along with a growing discernment of it. (It's all a balance.)
I am praying especially this year for one conversion; for one or two friends to join me at my church; for my commitment to the Lord's Day to be attractive to my roommate; for my Sunday night Bible study to deepen the bond of Christian fellowship among myself, Maddy, Carrie, Aileen, and Anna; and for these five friends: Elizabeth (so lost and empty in her clamor to be loved and accepted), Tegan (lesbian who is antagonistic to the Christian faith on the outside while deep down I can tell she knows she is empty), Kara (who's come to depend on me and who desperately needs the transforming work of Christ in her life), Sam (my very good Catholic composition/organ friend who maybe knows Christ though I don't know), and John (my organist friend who is ruining his life with alcohol).
I'll try to be consistent about writing on Sunday nights again, and I hope to make a point to share amusing stories throughout the week, too.
Thursday was a good day of travelling, made surpassing-cool when I ran into Jim & Becky Dietz on the plane from Atlanta to Minneapolis and then got to hang out with them at the baggage claim instead of feeling that odd "I'm not in Florida but not really here yet" feeling. That made more than my day. I've been smiling about it all weekend.
Friday my roommate (Aileen) and I moved in. We love our room and our building and our location on campus and the freedom of not being involved in the uncomfortable, time-consuming, silly routine of freshman orientation.
I will post pictures in a week or so once our room is really as it should be. It is spacious and tidy and looks surprising unlike a typical dorm room. We are really happy with it. We have a beautiful view from our beautiful window and everything about the building is charming. (It was built in the 1930s.)
Saturday was an intense day, working out in the sun serving food and setting up and taking down picnic stations for freshmen picnics for six hours. After that Aileen and I went to Target with Kenny and Emily to do the obligatory moving-in shopping.
Today was a lovely day of being back at church for the first time. (Mom, the prelude was Like a River Glorious. Kathryn, we sang our song.) I played hymns in Boe for an hour this afternoon (it was so fun to play that instrument/space again!) and then went and got ice cream with Kenny. I ate dinner with Kenny and Emily and then just got back from a lovely long walk down in the wetlands at the foot of the hill we are on, watching the sunset and praying and thinking through the coming year.
True to form, I have injured myself already. This morning I brilliantly managed to slam two fingers of my right hand in the latch of the Shaver's van door. They are pretty badly bruised and getting more and more tender as time progresses. It hurt to play organ this afternoon. But it's nothing that won't be mostly healed by the time classes start.
Tomorrow and Tuesday will be busy, both days beginning with cafeteria shifts at 6 or 6:30 in the morning. Monday I get off at 2:30 and then we have a big reunion outing planned. Tuesday I work two caf shifts with a registration shift in between, leaving me only two hours of break from 6 am to 8 pm. But I'm chipping away at my work study award, which is important.
It is good to be back in Minnesota. I find myself so peaceful and joyful and rested when I'm here. Once again my nausea has disappeared (though my allergies are back). I love this campus and I love what God is doing in my life in this season. I love the faculty and staff here and find them to be inspiring, dear people, into whose lives God has poured a remarkable measure of His common grace.
Most of my friends return to campus tomorrow and I don't feel ready to see them. I love school for the professors and classes and solitude, and not so much for the social life (it takes time and emotional energy and offers very little reward). I love my friends here and am thankful for how God is using them in my life and how He is, I hope, using me in theirs. And it is good to have friends to relax and learn and live with. But I have so enjoyed these first three days that I'm not ready for all the varied dynamics of many, many people to re-enter the mix.
Classes start Wednesday and I am so eager for that. But for me the real school year begins a week from tomorrow, since Thursday through Sunday I will be in Steamboat Springs, Colorado for my cousin's wedding. When I do get back it will be a treat to dive into studies and routine and hopefully find rest, safety, joy, and growth in it.
One of the best things about this year is my roommate. Last night we went to bed at the same time and, at her bidding, we prayed together before we went to sleep. This is so different from last year and adds a measure of sweetness to a cup that I find already overflowing. It feels life cannot get much better.
Things you can pray for...
My strength in the next two days and the efficiency to finish all that remains to be done to prepare for classes to start despite the long work hours I have.
Holiness and strength to remain who I am--seated with Christ in the heavenly places and setting my mind on things above--while surrounded by the folly of so many of my peers, whom I love dearly though they are so far from God.
Opportunities for the gospel and boldness that I may speak as I ought to speak.
Strength of heart and fear of the Lord that I may not fear those who have no fear of Him, especially in the music composition field. They seem to thrive, and it is easy for me to be simultaneously attracted and intimidated.
God's work and testimony through me of the transforming power and sweetness of the gospel, and the strength for living in strong service to Him to be evident to all I work with, especially to my professors.
A supernatural measure of self-discipline for myself as I work this year on living out 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 in many areas of my daily life; grace, at the same time, to remain mindful of God's compassion and mercy. (It's all a balance.)
Quickness and strength of mind and body to meet the academic challenges and opportunities I will face.
The ability to grow in my winsomeness and sympathy for those blinded to their foolish worldview, along with a growing discernment of it. (It's all a balance.)
I am praying especially this year for one conversion; for one or two friends to join me at my church; for my commitment to the Lord's Day to be attractive to my roommate; for my Sunday night Bible study to deepen the bond of Christian fellowship among myself, Maddy, Carrie, Aileen, and Anna; and for these five friends: Elizabeth (so lost and empty in her clamor to be loved and accepted), Tegan (lesbian who is antagonistic to the Christian faith on the outside while deep down I can tell she knows she is empty), Kara (who's come to depend on me and who desperately needs the transforming work of Christ in her life), Sam (my very good Catholic composition/organ friend who maybe knows Christ though I don't know), and John (my organist friend who is ruining his life with alcohol).
I'll try to be consistent about writing on Sunday nights again, and I hope to make a point to share amusing stories throughout the week, too.
2 Comments:
Susan,
Thank you for the specific prayer requests--you will be lifted up before the Lord daily. Grace and peace to you in Christ, Kathleen
Hey Susan,
We really enjoyed our time with you over the summer break. You have such a wonderful heart. Each and every day, remember to offer it up as a gift to our great God. He'll take care of it for you.
We'll be praying for you!
Sam & Laura
By the way, we're pregnant! Please pray for God's mercy on our baby.
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