Today is my 25th birthday and I can't believe that I am 25.
We all go through these thoughts when we turn another year older. It seemed like yesterday I was playing sports or hanging out with my friends at the mall on the weekends. I consistently think back on those memories, but lately the big thought for me is that it seems like yesterday that I graduated Delaware Valley High School and headed off to Valley Forge Christian College. I remember so vividly how relieved I was to graduate and to head off into what God had in store for me next. I've pondered over this before, but lately it's been a real thought out look at how much as changed in my life in the last six and a half years since High School.
It actually started on Tuesday afternoon. I was hanging out in my office with one of the guys from Horizon Youth, our youth group at Living Hope, and he was telling me about a paper that he had to submit through turnitin.com. For those of you who do not know about this resource, Turn It In is a website that teachers will have their students submit papers through and the site will go over them and let the teachers know if the paper was plagiarized. The papers will be able to be shown with a percentage of how much is seen in other resources and the lower the number you have, the better your grade turns out to be. Anyway, he's telling me all about this site and as he is, I remember that my English teacher also used Turn It In for my English class.
We decide to see if the account that I had on the site still existed and so after going through the Forgotten Password steps (I had no clue any of the answers of any of the Security Questions I had set then), we were able to access the account. I was not only blown away that my account did indeed still exist, but also that there was access to two papers that I wrote my Senior Year at DVHS. My final paper for English Literature had limited access, so we weren't able to look all through it, however, I had an additional paper that I wrote for English about the director Steven Spielberg, that was an interesting throwback to 12th grade. I went through all of his movies (up to that point in time) and brought out the success rates, the common choices in actors, and even my thoughts on reasons why films didn't do so well. I think back and I remember how much of a priority it was for me then to know all about Steven Spielberg and the Box Office runs of "Munich" and "War of the Worlds" and yet today I can't think of the last time I looked up anything about him. I don't remember the last time I had an in depth conversation about any of that information.
My mind began to move to other topics and other ideas. I thought about school subjects, friends, issues and problems, grades, and so much more. I look back at all of that and I see firsthand how much I have grown.
We grow. We change. Our interests shift and the things that were once so important to us, may fall to the background as we realize that it's really not that important that this actor was chosen for a movie or that this musical group chose to take a break from touring. I'm not saying that there is no place for those things and in fact, I happen to check out and research different types of information about music, movies, and entertainment. The difference is that it's not as major of a priority as it once was. Those things were once huge to me and now I find them to be interesting, but not necessary all time.
What was the change? One change was college and making that a priority to do well. One change was family and making it a priority to spend more time with relatives, especially those who were getting older and not doing as well. Another change was in my relationships and making friends with individuals who had similar goals as I did. There are so many examples of solid changes in my life, but I think that the most prevalent was in owning the calling that God had placed on my life. He has called me to live a life of service to Him and when I fully stepped out into that, I found that other things that I made so important in my life paled in comparison to that fact.
I'm thankful for all the things that God has done in my life. He's helped me through some many different things and through this whole process of looking back, I've been incredibly encouraged being able to see His hand through it all. Through it all, He's been the solid rock that I can turn to and lean on for support. His promise, "I will never leave you nor forsake you (Joshua 1:5)," has been such a blessing to me and I believe that it's a reminder to all of us, especially when we look back and where we came from and where we are today.
So going back to my birthday, today I'm 25 and I'm thankful for that milestone. I've been so blessed and God has been so good. I look forward anxiously to turning 26, 27, 28... 65, 66, 67... maybe 100, 101, and 102, if that's what God has for me. I look forward to being able to continue to look back and see what I look at as my silliness, as well as to look back and see His hand through it all.
We all go through these thoughts when we turn another year older. It seemed like yesterday I was playing sports or hanging out with my friends at the mall on the weekends. I consistently think back on those memories, but lately the big thought for me is that it seems like yesterday that I graduated Delaware Valley High School and headed off to Valley Forge Christian College. I remember so vividly how relieved I was to graduate and to head off into what God had in store for me next. I've pondered over this before, but lately it's been a real thought out look at how much as changed in my life in the last six and a half years since High School.
It actually started on Tuesday afternoon. I was hanging out in my office with one of the guys from Horizon Youth, our youth group at Living Hope, and he was telling me about a paper that he had to submit through turnitin.com. For those of you who do not know about this resource, Turn It In is a website that teachers will have their students submit papers through and the site will go over them and let the teachers know if the paper was plagiarized. The papers will be able to be shown with a percentage of how much is seen in other resources and the lower the number you have, the better your grade turns out to be. Anyway, he's telling me all about this site and as he is, I remember that my English teacher also used Turn It In for my English class.
We decide to see if the account that I had on the site still existed and so after going through the Forgotten Password steps (I had no clue any of the answers of any of the Security Questions I had set then), we were able to access the account. I was not only blown away that my account did indeed still exist, but also that there was access to two papers that I wrote my Senior Year at DVHS. My final paper for English Literature had limited access, so we weren't able to look all through it, however, I had an additional paper that I wrote for English about the director Steven Spielberg, that was an interesting throwback to 12th grade. I went through all of his movies (up to that point in time) and brought out the success rates, the common choices in actors, and even my thoughts on reasons why films didn't do so well. I think back and I remember how much of a priority it was for me then to know all about Steven Spielberg and the Box Office runs of "Munich" and "War of the Worlds" and yet today I can't think of the last time I looked up anything about him. I don't remember the last time I had an in depth conversation about any of that information.
My mind began to move to other topics and other ideas. I thought about school subjects, friends, issues and problems, grades, and so much more. I look back at all of that and I see firsthand how much I have grown.
We grow. We change. Our interests shift and the things that were once so important to us, may fall to the background as we realize that it's really not that important that this actor was chosen for a movie or that this musical group chose to take a break from touring. I'm not saying that there is no place for those things and in fact, I happen to check out and research different types of information about music, movies, and entertainment. The difference is that it's not as major of a priority as it once was. Those things were once huge to me and now I find them to be interesting, but not necessary all time.
What was the change? One change was college and making that a priority to do well. One change was family and making it a priority to spend more time with relatives, especially those who were getting older and not doing as well. Another change was in my relationships and making friends with individuals who had similar goals as I did. There are so many examples of solid changes in my life, but I think that the most prevalent was in owning the calling that God had placed on my life. He has called me to live a life of service to Him and when I fully stepped out into that, I found that other things that I made so important in my life paled in comparison to that fact.
I'm thankful for all the things that God has done in my life. He's helped me through some many different things and through this whole process of looking back, I've been incredibly encouraged being able to see His hand through it all. Through it all, He's been the solid rock that I can turn to and lean on for support. His promise, "I will never leave you nor forsake you (Joshua 1:5)," has been such a blessing to me and I believe that it's a reminder to all of us, especially when we look back and where we came from and where we are today.
So going back to my birthday, today I'm 25 and I'm thankful for that milestone. I've been so blessed and God has been so good. I look forward anxiously to turning 26, 27, 28... 65, 66, 67... maybe 100, 101, and 102, if that's what God has for me. I look forward to being able to continue to look back and see what I look at as my silliness, as well as to look back and see His hand through it all.
It is indeed interesting how people change... Happy birthday!
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