a balancing act

I thought I'd do a little reflecting after my first day of college classes. The first time Mom wasn't taking a million pictures of me before walking into the unknown of a new year. This morning at 9:45, I trotted out, coffee and detailed planner in hand, all on my own.
I won't bore you with the details of my dry-humored history professor or the trend analysis project I can't wait to start on in Fashion Fundamentals, but I can take pride in the fact that I successfully made it through a taste of what this year will be like. And though I am a little nervous about my biggest class of nearly fifty people in Sociology tomorrow morning, I suppose that will be compensating for the Travel Writing honors course consisting of only five people. Including the professor.

As I walked down the red brick sidewalks at Montevallo this morning, and as I listened to each new nervous freshman tell about themselves during roll call, I was astounded by the diversity surrounding me. I am at one of the smallest colleges I have ever heard of in one of the smallest towns I have ever heard of, and I still get the pleasure of experiencing so many different mindsets and backgrounds from everyone I meet.
Working in the Dean's office in the College of Education, I come into contact with hundreds of aspiring teachers, the leaders of our upcoming generations and influencers of youth as we know it. It's indescribably refreshing to be surrounded by thousands of people pursuing their passions--and so so many different passions to pursue!
This vision and appreciation of diversity have led me to think about fellowship. My former post was about the importance of solitude, and as crucial as it is for us to find bliss in isolation, my mindset as taken an entire shift in the past couple of days. Solitude is our way to draw into ourselves and connect everything back to God, relaxing our state of mind, but fellowship is something that excites every aspect of ourselves. Interrelationships create unbreakable bonds in our brains, and delve deeper into our souls and emotions than any experience on earth. Though we find an ever-important rest in solitude, fellowship is what makes life worth living. And I think that's why falling in love seems to be such a terrifying and warming and heart wrenching experience--it is like the ecstasy of synaptic junction connections. It sets off fireworks behind our eyes and electrifies the nerves in our fingertips; it makes a beating drum out of our hearts and intrudes the unconscious state causing us to dream about it, preventing us from its escape with no exceptions.
We have all heard that the Bible, the Word of God, the entire being of Jesus Christ, and God Himself, are all made of love. We know that faith, hope and love remain, but the greatest of these is love. I will not go back on what I said about the benefits and salvation in alone-time, but there is something far bigger found in the state of sharing life with other souls.
Solitude is important, but the Bible is built on love, and love is built on fellowship.
It's just a balancing act.


"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens the other."

Proverbs 27:17