From: Rachel-Anne Minor
Many folks take the time at the end of the year to reflect over the events of the past twelve months; we wonder what we did well, and what we did not do so well, and we attempt to make rules to be better. I found myself entering the New Year wondering what rules I could make for myself in my last semester of graduate school that would ensure the best outcome for myself and for my colleagues and students. I, like many others, resolved to get up early. To work out at least five days a week. To eat better (starting with the Whole 30!). To get my work done early. To be so prepared for work and school that my professors and fellow students would be amazed. I thought that if I did all of those things, that I would create the life I wanted to have, full of happiness and success.
We’re a few weeks into 2017. How are your resolutions doing?
As I prepared to return to school this past week I found myself overwhelmed by the expectations I placed on myself to be better and do better in order to live the life I thought I could make for myself. Of course, I can’t. I cannot create the perfect life for myself out of sheer will and determination. I simply do not have control over everything, and as hard as it is to do it (and as trite as the saying can be), I need to “let go, and let God.”
“And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and the bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous…You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel” Isaiah 30.23a, 29
No amount of control over the various aspects of my life will give me the joy and comfort that I seek. Yes, there is work to be done! But that work means nothing without the rain from above to grow it and to nurture it. I pray that throughout this semester and year that I continue to seek the Lord in all aspects of my life, and to rely on him as the source of my joyful life.
A native of Boston, I am completing a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting at the University of Connecticut.