HOW TO ANSWER AUNT LINDA'S QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR FUTURE

It’s that time of year. Finals wrap up, you pack up your car with clothes and let out a huge exhale knowing the stress of the semester is finally over. And it is... kind of. Unfortunately, the question that has been ringing in your ear all semester follows you back home. 

“So, what are you doing after college?”

So how do you answer your Aunt Linda when she asks about your post grad plans? You’re only secretly worried about the question until someone asks you and the sweating and heart pumping starts… but fear not. It’s understandable for this question to feel heavy. It sparks all the shame of the jobs you haven't applied for, the direction you don’t yet have, but most of all it highlights the fact that you don’t have the answer that is going to please the person asking the question. And that’s ok. ​

You are dreaming and hoping for a future where you get to steward your gifts and passions, and support yourself financially. You are trying to connect all the dots of what you have learned, what you love, and where you want to live. You, dear soon-to-be-graduate, are not supposed to know what you want to do with your life. You are in an active waiting season, and the best thing you can do right now is find a posture of surrender and discernment. 

As you approach graduation, it’s becoming increasingly important for you to anchor yourself in the Truth of God, and in the gifts you’re ready to put to use. What better time to practice that than during Advent? This waiting period before Christmas, is a time of contemplation and reflection. Waiting, waiting, faithfully and hopefully waiting. This season is a representation of generations waiting on the birth of our Savior. 

If you allow the desire to have the right answer be the motivator to find a job, you will chase the relief of the answer, rather than the peace of believing God has something for you. 
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Before you panic-answer all of the questions about your future, reflect on these questions:

1. Can you remember a time where you were in a season of waiting and unknown, and can you remember how God showed up?
2. What DO you know about what you might want to do, the kind of job you’re hoping to have, or the kind of culture you’re looking for in an organization that employs you?
3. What does the bible say about worry and fear? 
4. Have you ever asked your family about their discerning process for choosing their work, could this be an opportunity to do that?
5. Finally, are you believing the lie that your first job out of college is defining your identity? ​

There is a path ahead of you that is both nothing you can imagine, and everything you're dreaming of. A future where you are confident in Who has brought you here, in the work you are doing, and in what is to come. 

'Tis the season to wait well and trust God.