Keeping calm, carrying on

A typical work day usually starts out like this:

Alarm goes off at 7. Cathy and Maegan are already gone or on their way out. I'm always the last person to bed, last person to get up. Hit snooze button at least 5 times. Get dressed, get ready, head out. I never have time for breakfast. I clock in, sit down in my little section of the craft shop and wait for customers. And since I'm not "from around here," they ask me lots of questions. I swear if I had a quarter for every time I've heard "How long are you here for?" "What school do you go to?" "Oh, you graduated? What are you doing with yourself now?" I could retire by the end of this summer.

It's that last question that I don't know how to answer. Am I supposed to already have my post-college life planned from the moment I receive my diploma? Why do people act so shocked when I say I have no idea what I'm doing? The job market sucks, and I had a major revelation mid-sophomore year that drastically altered the career plans I already had. So no, I don't know what I'm doing with myself once this summer is over. Stop reminding me (okay, that was a little bitter. I'm really much nicer than that, I promise!).

I've been told to find a "niche" in ministry based on personal experience, and go with that. Problem is, I have too many experiences to choose from. So far the most definite career plan is chaplaincy while writing books on the side, but I know better than to say that that is a sure plan.

My ministry doesn't really have a name. My ministry is, or could be, working with people whose loved ones have been affected by cancer. My ministry is working with women who feel trapped in abusive relationships, whose dignity has been stripped from them. My ministry is reaching out to "spiritual orphans" who left the traditions they were raised with, believing God is calling them elsewhere, but feel like they can't ever belong anywhere.

My ministry is all over the place.

I might be making this decision process a lot more confusing than it has to be. I'm checking out a potential grad school in Denver with my parents in a little over a week, and maybe that will help clear things up from me. I never thought I'd feel comfortable this far from home, but now that the summer is already half over, I need to get away again.

Why can't every day be filled with views like this?

(Not gonna lie, I was definitely singing 'Colors of the Wind' in my head when this was taken)