Ever catch yourself staring at that person sitting over there on the park bench, buried in a mid-sized novel? Her eyes quickly moving down the page, then, suddenly her hand turns the page, and she absorbs yet another page of her text-only world. Ever wonder where she's been in life? What those eyes have seen? Who those hands have touched? And most importantly, who taught her to tie her shoelaces so well?
Now. Pretend she is me and I am her.
My name is Rebekah, not Rebecca, Bekah, and most definitely not Becky. Just Rebekah. I was born in Philadephia. I lived in Alabama for a short time, long enough for my family to add two younger siblings for my older sister and myself to bring up in the ways of this world. Then I moved to the not-so-quaint town of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. From there, I "moved" to Grove City, where I have spent the last four years volunteering my services as a college student at Grove City College. Here I have attempted to manage my time wisely, do my homework, socialize with friends, eat, exercise, and sleep, all the while keeping my love of God first and foremost in my life. Maybe I've slacked off on the homework bit sometimes, but I think I have missed more hours of sleep than days in class.
My older sister taught me to tie my shoes. I, in turn, passed this knowledge onto my little brother, who, quite frankly, still cannot do it right. I taught him well the ways of the Jedi Knight shoe-tying, but he's a slow learner.
Learning to tie my shoes was but the beginning of a series of giant-steps forward in my life. From this small, but important beginning, I quickly graduated to the art of riding a bicycle, which was soon followed by why I should never wash white clothing with one or two articles of red. Pink is not my favorite color; Troll-poop brown is. Finally, having mastered these basics, as well as countless others, I moved on to understanding the perfection that is a well-done grilled cheese sandwich and the undying beauty of the French language.
I spent two summers in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, pursuing my love of language. The second time around, I spent 5 weeks in an intensive indoctrination class, for which I signed a blood pact, promising I would not speak a word of English during those 5 weeks. My French skills improved, needless to say. A year later, I was able to make the trip across the pond, to spend a semester in the homeland itself, studying this romantic language, with the very symbol of this powerful language, the Eiffel Tower, within site of my rear window. This was an experience. There were times when I dreamed of the small town goodness of Carlisle, and there were times when I never wanted to leave Paris. My time came to an end, however, and while I may not have left a mark on France, the experience left me with many memories.
Soon, I face the day of reckoning. Graduation day. Perhaps I will graduate with honors; perhaps not. I will, however, graduate as a secondary education major, for which I have been heavily trained. I still worry sometimes whether I am fully qualified to fill the important role I will have as a teacher. The kids I will teach will already know how to tie his or her own shoes; this is the least of my worries. They are all impressionable minds, each one a huge task, in and of itself. Every morning I will be presented with a room full of these minds and the task seems daunting. I know, however, that each day, the Lord will give me the strength I need to accomplish this task to His glory. He will open the doors of their minds as only He alone can do. I have no reason to doubt Him, because He has proved Himself time and again these past 4 years. He will be there in the years to come.
And she silently closes the book, checks the time on her watch, and graces the freshly mowed lawn as she proceeds on her way. She has bookmarked her place in the book and has only stopped reading because the remaining pages contained no more words. The rest is yet to be written. And only One has seen what lies ahead.
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. (Gen. 1:31a, NKJV).