I've just started my sophomore year of college, which means I'm done with all general education classes and finally diving head first into my major. I must admit that I struggled to choose a major, and honestly up to this point, I haven't been 100% confident that my choice of major was exactly what God intended. It's such a scary time in life when you're brain isn't fully developed, and you are required to choose a direction in which the rest of your life will follow. Up until now, I have overly stressed about the slight possibility that I have chosen the wrong major.
See, I know that God created each and every one of us with a mission in mind for us to accomplish with our life's work. My deepest desire is to figure out exactly what my mission is and never hinder from the path towards accomplishing what God needs me to. My fears have sprouted from this intrinsically good desire. What if I'm headed down the wrong path? What if I choose the wrong major? What if I choose the wrong concentration? What if I waste my college years? What if this isn't God's plan for me? Worst of all, what if I fail?
Recently however, God has quieted my heart's anxieties with a little help from Matthew Kelly's book: The Rhythm of Life. Through this perfectly timed read, I was reminded that every person was created by God with specific talents and abilities. These talents and abilities are unique to each person and specifically correlate with each person's God-given mission in life. You see, God not only assigns each person a mission, but also abundantly equips every individual with the tools needed to accomplish this mission. These tools are acquired through many different ways. Some come naturally while others come through experiences, hardships, triumphs and from your environment along with people around you. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing in life is a coincidence. Everything that happens in this life of freewill (good or bad) can be pointed toward our ultimate mission by the grace of God.
God not only uses our talents and abilities to point us to where we belong in life, but He also incorporates our passions and deepest desires within our mission as well. The path toward our mission in life can be found by exploring how we can use our talents and abilities to complement our passions and desires.
Now, I am absolutely not promising that we will know every single step of what God wants us to accomplish, but we will definitely get an idea of roughly what God has intended for our life's work if we explore our talents, abilities, passions, and desires.
As I sat through my first week of classes, my heart was more and more reassured that I chose the right major. I chose to pursue a degree in secondary education with a concentration in English. I am beginning to see that my abilities, talents, passions, and desires all fit right into my major. If you can't tell already, I am very passionate about sharing knowledge, especially if it has to do with helping others to reach their full potential. Non-coincidentally, this is exactly what teachers do. I am also pretty good at speaking, reading, and writing. Not a coincidence that I chose to concentrate in English, is it? As the classes of my major become more concentrated, God is slowly revealing to me what He needs me to accomplish with my life. It's clear that my mission will involve using my talents, abilities, passions, and desires to carry out His work while I'm here on earth. I may not know what my mission is exactly, but my heart is much more reassured that I am headed in the right direction.
