Reminiscing...

So... I'm a senior this year.

Weird.

Last night at service planning Dave started talking a bit about when he first met Nate and how crazy it is to think about how much has happened since that time.  It sent me down memory lane, thinking about my freshman year at AU.  It's incredible to realize that the people who have become my community and support system, the people that I couldn't imagine living without, I didn't know them 4 years ago.  The decisions I made my freshman year - who to go to Convo with, which campus events to attend, what groups to join, these choices led me to some of the the best friends that I could ever hope for.

All that leads me to think about God's role in all this.  It seems obvious that God was with me, gently guiding me to the people and places that He wanted me to experience, but at the time I was completely unaware.  Not because I didn't believe in God, but because it just never occurred to me that God could be so deeply involved in the tiny details and decisions of my everyday life.  Why would He care about whether or not I went to the football game?  What did it matter whose table I happened to join in Convo?  But those decisions did matter! And I'm grateful that someone who had the bigger picture in mind was with me when I was making these choices that would, in some ways, shape me into the person I am today.

So, what does this mean now?  I'm not 100% sure.  In one sense, I don't think that I need to go overboard with this... fasting and praying every time I leave my room so that I choose the right person to sit next to in class is probably unnecessary.  But for me, I think that the recognition that God is (or at least should be) in the midst of all my interactions, is important.  Knowing that He purposely places people in my life, in my classes, in the dining hall, on Facebook, for a number of different reasons that I may never fully understand. 

I hope that I'll be more intentional about my conversations and my relationships with friends, new and old. That I will say a quick prayer before I sit down with people, asking that God would reveal His desires for that conversation and relationship.  Because 3 years ago, I couldn't have begun to describe or even imagine the beautiful consequences of walking to the 710 House for a Freshman Women's Bible Study, or going to a 9-hour long Scrubs marathon one Friday night, or letting my roommate talk me into going to the first home football game.