It was Bid Day.
FINALLY, the end of a week filled with sooooo much lipstick and soooo much hairspray.
I was really glad it was over. It was such a great experience- getting to meet girls from all over, feeling love from people I didn’t even know, and catching up with high school pals. It was a chance to open my mind to new things, new people. However, I’m a worrier- if I’m not worrying about something, then you should probably be worried about me. I tossed and turned all week at the thought that some computer system would determine my future. It was a long, difficult, rewarding, special, frustrating, exciting week. But if I had to do it again, I would chop off my hair and maybe a limb too. Probably toes first because mine are shaped weird and make me feel inferior.
The week was over. All I had to do was open that card- OH MY GOODNESS YAYYY IT SAYS CHI O WOOOHOOOOOOO- and then run to that big cream house.
I start running- and smiling, of course, in case action shots are being taken- with all my might. I start thinking about how I won’t have to eat in the smelly Union that much anymore, and I start to run faster. Okay I actually lied, I was briskly walking with the most minimal amount of pep in my step, but if I am moving at all, it means something.
And then I run smack into a group of girls putting bid day jerseys on GIRLS IN A DIFFERENT SORORITY BECAUSE I RAN THE WRONG WAY.
To the ladies of Phi Mu, I really apologize if there’s a frantic girl in the background of all your serene bid day pictures.
I feel as though we all do this. Well maybe I was the only girl who ran the wrong way on Bid Day, but this relates to making wrong turns of a greater measure- away from a greater God.
Our God gives us chance after chance after chance to run to Him. He lets us practice running to Him by putting us in situations where we realize how much we need His mercy. He gives us campus ministries so that we can have a greater picture of what the Love of Christ looks like. He puts people in our lives that befriend us for who we are, just like He would.
We have so many opportunities to learn about how to get to where we want to in our walk with God. Yet, we run without remembering where we are running to, Who we are running to. He has more spiritual gatorade at His heavenly finish line than we can imagine, but we would rather get that earthly lukewarm tap water in order to fulfill our own desires.
In just a few words from James 4:8, my mind is renewed as I remember the one who beckons me to Him.
“Come near to God, and He will come near to you.”
That’s it. Just come near to Him. He is BEGGING you to be on His side. He is dying to have you with Him. You, all of you, are His top rushees. God puts you on the front row of his sorority skit each and every day, whether it’s by giving you that little bit of energy when you need it or by putting someone in your life who will invest in you. You’re his top pick, his top girl, his top boy. There is nothing more that The Lord wants than to be able to put that bid day jersey on you the day you walk into His heavenly dwellings.
And all you have to do is run the right way.
I pray that you will look around and notice the many ways God tries to catch our eyes, ears, and hearts in order to turn us to Him. He wants us- not because of what is on our resume or because of what kind of legacy we are- but because of who He is. Who He has always been, who He always will be. He wants us to eat with Him for every meal, He wants us to spend our afternoon breaks in a way that reflects Who died for us. He wants to pin us with His faithfulness, and He wants us to wear that reminder on our sleeve eternally. I pray that you remember how loved and how desired you are as a Child of God.
He will come near to you when you turn around and come near to Him. He always will. And you won’t have to pay those membership dues- because these dues have already been paid.
Thanks be to a God that always draws us back to Him when we ask Him to. Thanks be to a God who provides even the most doubtful of these (yes, that’s me!) with a plan that goes beyond our dreams. Thanks be to a God who gives us a second home here at college in which we can look around while eating lasagna and realize that He is present in that place. I praise Him this week for showing me His divine plan in the form of owls and cardinal and straw, in the form of new friendships, in the form of crunchy ice in the Chi O dining room, in the form of so many new role models and so many new chances to serve and grow.
Great is He who gives us the most visible examples of how much we have to be thankful for. Seek and you will find; come near and He will come near as well; run the right way and you will be chased in return. . . ❤