Flexibility.

I know it's been awhile. That's mainly because this semester has been absoutely crazy busy. Every semester I try and lose some obligations, but somehow the ones I keep become more demanding! I'm learning a lot from the things I'm involved in, so I guess that is the silver lining of being super involved!

Something I've really been challenged with this semester is learning to be flexible.

Things don't always go as planned. That's just life. I've been learning it makes things go so much smoother if you can adapt to change and go with the flow. I got a lot of experience with this over this past summer while working at Wild River Country. Being an admissions lead was very challenging for me. I constantly had to be ready to change schedules if employees called in, troubleshoot any kind of technical or guest problems, rely on my judgment to make decisions and deal with unique situations every day. A lot of times I simply had to work with what I had and deal with things the best I knew how. Making the best of the situation at hand. That doesn't mean things were always handled perfectly. But I had to make decisions and then move forward.

I think a big part of becoming more flexible has been recognizing that my way is not always the best, and not always necessary to accomplish tasks. "Teamwork makes the dream work" is a topic for a whole separate post, but it is so relevant to being flexible. It's not always easy working with others. I may think my vision for a project is the best, but that's not always true. I may have good ideas for some things, but two heads are better than one in almost every situation. I have learned to value consensus a lot more.

Another essential part of being flexible is having patience. I am the type of person who likes to start something, focus on it and finish it. I hate having to drag things out. I like to know they are done and move on to the next task. It's a struggle for me if I don't feel like I'm doing things efficiently. But realistically, life isn't always efficient. Patience is the glue that holds it all together.

When I was here for New Student Retreat in August, I saw this quote in Amy Wentz' office:

"Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape."

It is one of my favorites. I think flexibility is a characteristic relevant to all aspects of life. It's fundamental to successful relationships with family, friends, coworkers and spouses. It's an essential tool at work and at home. It's crucial to a relationship with God. We have to rely on His will for our life, and that means willing to be flexible with our own plans in order to serve Him.


Be flexible. You might just find you enjoy things more that way.

Grateful.

I've spent the majority of the week in Arkadelphia preparing for New Student Retreat. From spending an entire day setting up Walker Conference Center for the legendary "purple & gold party" to helping house students for the weekend, this has been a pretty long week for the steering committee. But more than all the work and stressful moments that have happened thus far, I've been able to realize what a blessing it is to be a part of the Ouachita family.

To look back a year ago at this time and see how much personal growth has occurred for me is almost staggering. That growth has required a lot of pain, long nights, pulling it together when it's not, and some dark moments. But there has also been a fair share of triumph and joy associated with it. I'm thankful for the way the Lord has chosen to develop me, and grateful He placed me at a place like OBU for it to occur. I'm convinced it really is a place like none other. It never feels like I'm 'away from home' when at school. You can find me sitting in a professor's office talking, having homegroup at the dean's home, dinner at an admissions counselors' house, and many other places. I describe it like that only to say that these people are friends to me before they are whatever their specific title may be. How cool is that? The faculty & staff of Ouachita are what make it such a special place. Always willing to open their homes and lives' to students, as well as invest their time in each and every one of them. If I had to describe Ouachita in one word, it would most definitely be 'genuine.'

I'm very excited for all the new Tigers to be arriving here tomorrow. I can't believe that was already a year ago for me and my friends, but I know that this next step in their lives' will offer a time of great growth, through successes and trials, and I look forward to seeing the transformation the Lord will make in each and every student here.

Perseverance

As my freshman year of college is coming to a close, I can't help but think of the word perseverance as I reflect upon all of my experiences since August. So many times I have had to push through junk in my life that I did not want to deal with. Things that were mental and things that were physical. Most of the time it was relational problems. But the simple fact is, we are all going to have times in which we need to persevere. Times that we need to overcome that "junk" in our lives. Not only do we need to, but we are called to do so. Paul shows this as he encourages the Christians at Philippi to persist in their pursuit of knowing Christ:

"I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."

Philippians 3:12-14

There are so many instances in life in which we are called to persevere.

Smaller situations like...

• getting up out of bed and going to class when it's the absolute last thing you want to do
• being nice to that person when you could actually care less
• going out of your way to make sure someone is alright
• doing a favor for someone who wouldn't think twice about returning it
• treating others how you would like to be treated in every circumstance

Or maybe bigger things...

• accepting change, no matter how you feel about it
• wanting to react to a situation, but knowing it won't change anything
• accepting the reality of a problem
• realizing the death of a dream
• loving that person that's hard to love
• perhaps even accepting the death of a friendship
• keeping your head held up high so tears won't run down your face
• putting a smile on when no one knows your world is crumbling around you
• knowing you don't always get what you want or think you deserve

...and this list could easily go on. So, how do we persevere when things don't go exactly the way we planned? We must be prepared to take a deep breath and focus on the task at hand. This is the essence of perseverance. One step at a time. We must be prepared for change. We must be prepared to let God intercede our own plans with His will.

This quote was given to me on a handout from a businessman we got to meet on our freshman business trip several weeks ago. He offered several perspectives of his that had helped him throughout his career.

"There is only one universal constant (besides God)...that universal constant is change. Either accept it and capitalize on it, or be crippled by it."

I find this quote to be so true. I love that we as students get to work with experienced businessmen who will offer those kinds of tips and insight. Can't put a price on them. There's my official Hickingbotham School of Business plug. But really, that statement holds quite a bit of truth. We should look forward to change, as it is inevitable. And generally, change is for the better. Cherish those who persist with the changes of your life.


Your life is changing. Better embrace it.