Plans

As my oldest daughter contemplates career plans, I think of myself at her age, contemplating my own. Maybe that's why when she talks about doing this or that I just kind of say mmmm...I see... Or, oh, that sounds interesting! 

How can one really know what he or she wants to do for the REST of his or her life at the tender age of 16 anyway? It's crazy! She's just starting to drive. She can't even decide what kind of job she might want to try next summer. Career? It's crazy. 

I tell her to follow her interests, because it's the one thing I did not do right at her age. I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a social worker. I was discouraged at both! I didn't have enough self-confidence to fight the nay-sayers to do it anyway. I backed down. I pursued something else and I wasn't happy. Then I ended up too sick to finish anyway, adding even more disappointment to the mix. 

So when she tells me she wants to pursue music, I admit, I cringe a little! The music professor tells her a path she can take to be successful, but it's not the one she wants to take. She doesn't have a path. She has a perfect GPA. She has leadership skills. She is smart in all of her subjects. A way better student than both her dad and me. The critic in me says she would make an amazing engineer or computer scientist. The mom in me says she has to find what makes her happy. Not what makes sense to us. Not what makes sense in "the world". 

Again, we have to remember that God has given Natalie a purpose! He has equipped her with all the gifts, talents, and brains to fulfill this purpose. We are merely here to support her, not to hinder or discourage her. If she wants to pursue music, I told her to get busy researching careers in music that encompass the things she wants to pursue. It's up to her to be enthusiastic about that search. We'll see what she cares about by how much time she invests in it. 

And now it's time for mom to take her own advice. I am actively working on a plan of my own. It is starting with finally reading Joyce Meyer's book You Can Begin Again. There are a lot of hindrances I need to throw off and a lot of new good habits I need to start before I can finally claim what I've been pining for! It's not that God doesn't want me to have it. It's that I haven't been ready. 

So while she prepares for pre-college testing, I'm doing some testing of my own. I have a feeling we're both going to be just fine.