It's OK to Be a Christlike Hermione
Thinking about what I've learned living in Boston this year/grad school year 1, I've compiled the following list, which for me is about as raw and vulnerable as this year has been:
1. God can't drive a parked car. Move forward even if you don't know the way. (P.S. HE is the way. John 14:6)
2. Ask for help. Ask for rides. Ask for friends. Ask for shoulders to cry on. People want to help, but you have to tell them what you need.
3. Be kind to people and talk well of everyone all the time. The relief of complaining in the moment is never worth the anguish of hurting that person or their reputation or compromising your character. If you feel the need to gossip about someone/process, talk to God first.
4. Always turn to God first with feelings, hurts, anguishes, excitements, gratitude. Treasure your relationship with Him. He will always be there to comfort and take care of you, even when no humans are.
5. God gives miracles often at the same time as disappointments or trials. Sometimes we get a miracle because something else didn't work out. (One of the many examples: One Sunday I left my phone in an Uber on the way to church, because I am a gifted individual. BUT because of that I got to feel blessed and cared for by friends at church who helped me retrieve it. S/Os to Jessica Lees and Ryan Quinton.)
6. Always accept opportunities to serve and always open your heart to love despite discomfort and social anxiety.
7. Learn to discern between interesting people and people you can trust. The most important relationships are still with God, your family and friends. Bridle your passions that you may be filled with love for those most important people.
8. I can do hard things, I can be an adult and I can take care of myself (with help from God and others). I can be honest about what I don't know, about what I believe even if it's different, and about my mistakes. You will never learn if you don't admit that you don't know.
9. Be yourself, even if that self has a big personality, big hair, and in most ways resembles Hermione Granger (movie 1, not movies 3-7). Let God use you as you are, not as you think you have to make yourself into. It's ok to be a Christlike Hermione.
And now: more grad school! In the words of one of my favorite quotes but a dauntless Mormon pioneer, Jean Rio Griffiths Baker: “The future will most likely be an account of trials, difficulties, and privations such as at present I have no idea of, so as to be able to provide against them. But as you are aware I am not one to go through the world with my eyes shut."
Onward!
1. God can't drive a parked car. Move forward even if you don't know the way. (P.S. HE is the way. John 14:6)
2. Ask for help. Ask for rides. Ask for friends. Ask for shoulders to cry on. People want to help, but you have to tell them what you need.
3. Be kind to people and talk well of everyone all the time. The relief of complaining in the moment is never worth the anguish of hurting that person or their reputation or compromising your character. If you feel the need to gossip about someone/process, talk to God first.
4. Always turn to God first with feelings, hurts, anguishes, excitements, gratitude. Treasure your relationship with Him. He will always be there to comfort and take care of you, even when no humans are.
5. God gives miracles often at the same time as disappointments or trials. Sometimes we get a miracle because something else didn't work out. (One of the many examples: One Sunday I left my phone in an Uber on the way to church, because I am a gifted individual. BUT because of that I got to feel blessed and cared for by friends at church who helped me retrieve it. S/Os to Jessica Lees and Ryan Quinton.)
6. Always accept opportunities to serve and always open your heart to love despite discomfort and social anxiety.
7. Learn to discern between interesting people and people you can trust. The most important relationships are still with God, your family and friends. Bridle your passions that you may be filled with love for those most important people.
8. I can do hard things, I can be an adult and I can take care of myself (with help from God and others). I can be honest about what I don't know, about what I believe even if it's different, and about my mistakes. You will never learn if you don't admit that you don't know.
9. Be yourself, even if that self has a big personality, big hair, and in most ways resembles Hermione Granger (movie 1, not movies 3-7). Let God use you as you are, not as you think you have to make yourself into. It's ok to be a Christlike Hermione.
And now: more grad school! In the words of one of my favorite quotes but a dauntless Mormon pioneer, Jean Rio Griffiths Baker: “The future will most likely be an account of trials, difficulties, and privations such as at present I have no idea of, so as to be able to provide against them. But as you are aware I am not one to go through the world with my eyes shut."
Onward!
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