Fufilling Expectations.. not What You'd Expect

I was having a good little chat with my dear friend Jan-er, and, of course, had a revelation. Talking to Janelle actually induces wisdom and understanding, just by the way.



I'm sitting here, on my last day at Elim Bible Inst., packed up dressed up and ready to go home. Next year I'll start going to school with Bryan, and we'll both get associates degrees. Then.... then?



I'm all about education. I am a teacher, I'm going to school for teaching/counseling, I will always be a teacher. I hate teachers but what can I say, Jesus is a seriously funny Guy. There is NO. EFFING. WAY. I could not get m y bachelors. I am going to have five years of college. For realz. Not graduating with at least a four-year degree, not going to college, are all completely impossible for me. My parents wouldn't love me anymore, my fish would all die, I would get malaria and a cold sore. There's just no way. Not getting a degree equals EPIC FAILURE. Besides, I WANT to get it. I will get tremendous satisfaction from it. Graduation ceremonies, certificate thingies; I love them. 

In order to live a happy, fulfilling life, and to feel like I had done what I was supposed to [which is important to me], I absolutely have to go to college for four years. And I'm happy with that.



So, you can imagine my internal horror when Bryan implied that he wasn't particularly planning on getting anything beyond an Associates. My first thought was, if I can be a crappy person real quick, that his parents didn't do a good enough job teaching him the importance of education. Seriously, like I said, I would be promptly disowned if I quit school [as in, didn't go for at least four years]. But, thinking of his parents that way made me squeamish.... besides, seriously, of COURSE he was going to go to school for four years. I mean, DUH, of course he would... of course he would...



And I, being the magnificent brat I can be with Bryan sometimes, would say that to him. 'Yeah, honey, I know you don't feel like it now, but of COURSE you'll finish school.' Whenever it came up. 'Oh, I know you want to do the band thing, you'll just get your bachelors online.' 



Flame me, please.



And then, I was talking to Janelle, about the kind of work Bryan and I hope to do in India. I confided in her that I was completely confident that Bryan would be fine, providing-wise, because he is such a hard worker, and he's humble enough to do anything. Ministry-wise, I think he'll pastor. I went on to explain to Jan-jan that I figured that he would be fine in a manual-labor type job, because he would get his God-fulfillment from Ministry, and his generalized self-life-gratification would come from the music thing he is beginning to be involved with now. I went on to say that I, as a person, will get mine from my career, my job.... and then it hit me in the face.



Bryan doesn't need to go to college for four years to be completely successful. He will get fulfillment from other things, and in fact, would not get that must gratification from a degree at all.



And so, mon amis, I realized once again that Bryan and I are different, and that that is just dandy, because that is the way Jesus designed us.


Love!