Positively Friday

I've been looking at post-secondary education with my daughter, Ae, who'll be applying to universities and colleges this fall. Where a person chooses to attend is an important decision, one that will shape and guide the rest of his or her life. In other words, a very big deal.

Right now Ae is considering Christian institutions only. Her goal is to do "something with music" in the area of ministry - maybe a worship leader, maybe a performer, "definitely not a teacher," she says. I've been advised (by someone who shall remain nameless) that she should have a back-up plan, that the field she wants to get into is difficult - she may not get to work in the geographical location of her choice or earn the kind of salary that would make life easier.

But I remember having a dream too. I thought of becoming a singer, and opted instead for the safer, more practical path. I'm not saying it was the wrong path for me (I didn't have the competitive nature that would likely be needed to 'succeed' as a performer), but sometimes I  wonder how my life might have been different had I gone the artistic route, and I am grateful for the opportunity to pursue writing now.

So I will encourage Ae to follow her passion, for I believe it's a calling. And if one is called, then one must go. Call me foolish, but geography and income must not be factors in the decision, for God will lead and He'll provide. Having a back-up plan suggests, to me, that you don't trust God to deliver. And the fact remains that, if this is not truly God's calling on Ae's life, she can always pursue something else later. Let her give it all she's got, now, while she's young.

I believe there's joy and freedom in this truth:

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. ~Confucius