Opportunity
On Wednesdays, most students don’t have class scheduled. I’m not sure why my school does this, but I’m not complaining. Having a mid-week break is nice. It’s like having a week that consists of Monday-Friday-Sunday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday instead of the usual.
So yesterday, with my extra time, I got up and was in the library working on my paper by 9. I grabbed lunch around 11:30 and headed back to my dorm to eat while working on my art project. Then I attempted my huge reading assignment. The day went on like this until 8:30, when I realized I also had to type a paper to go along with my art project, so I went to the library to print it before class at 8:00 the next morning. On my way back from the library, I stopped at the music building, which is next door, to visit the little chapel. I figured I could spare 15 minutes or so with God which would serve as a nice break from homework.
This was only my second time in the chapel, the first on Sunday when I missed church because of some cinnamon roll miscommunication, but that’s another story. I tried hard to be comfortable there, but I always had the thought that someone was going to walk in while I was in there. I wouldn’t mind as much if someone would share the chapel with me if it were bigger, but this has miniature pews and a maximum capacity of about 16. Bottom line, it was hard for me to get comfortable there and really give myself to God which sucks because this chapel is and awesome little place. It has an altar in the front scattered with prayers people have written and left and prayer journals dating from the 80s! I so wanted to be comfortable there, but this time it was even harder because students were using the practice rooms and walking through the hall, much different from the quiet Sunday morning I’d spent there a few days before.
And then, opportunity presented itself. I sat there, for probably 10 minutes reading the old journals and thinking, when I heard someone quietly open the door. I figured I’d just leave them alone, not looking up from the journal. To my surprise, they came to me. It was a student, telling me that there was going to be a prayer group using the chapel at 9:30. I reached for my paper, ready to leave, when he invited me to stay. Curious, I accepted. Then he introduced me to the two students behind him, and they left for a few minutes before the group was scheduled to begin. Worrying about what I’d gotten myself into, I pondered my situation. I still had 40 pages of reading I was supposed to have done by class, but staying was the better choice for me. (It irks me how school life has skewed our priorities.)
I was nervous, but only a little. The group was small (it grew to 7 people at one point) and comfortable, since they were friends and they welcomed me and were very accommodating. Good discussion, good passages, good, good, good.
I ensure you I learned more about life spending that hour and a half learning about God than I ever would have reading a textbook. Rearrange your priorities. Think about what really matters.
