Theories of Counseling meets Morgan Freeman

I have reached a whole new level of nerdiness on this the first day of final exams.

After a very late night of studying and eventual insanity with my roommates, I woke up this morning to finish studying for my first exam: Theories of Counseling.

Whilst I was getting ready for my day, I had a particularly poignant revelation about Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (which means nothing to most, I'm sure, but it was a big deal to me). I was so excited about the potential of writing an essay on this topic that I was actually beaming as I walked to my exam.

Imagine my complete and total disappointment upon discovering that the essay portion would be covering either feminist or postmodern therapy. Now, don't  get me wrong, I actually have nothing against these models, and I did well on my postmodern explanation, but oh the disappointment.

Then I came to the realization at how nerdy I had truly become: I was upset because my favorite essay question wasn't on the exam. Wow. I had to suppress laughter at myself.

Since I didn't get to share my wondrous epiphany on my exam, though, would you like to hear it?

"This our hymn of grateful praise..."

I know that Thanksgiving is technically behind us now,but I feel like every day is a good day to learn the true meaning of thankfulness. Today, I've been reflecting on how that lesson can be learned and applied in my current life.

I've been thinking lately about attitudes and how they affect our interactions with those around us. More importantly, I've been reflecting on how sometimes I do not choose to have the most gracious attitude with people because of the physical pain that I've experienced of late in my own life. I sometimes translate that pain into my interpersonal relationships, which is completely unfair and altogether not Christ-like.

In order to truly explain this lesson, though, and how I am learning it, I'll need to tell the story of my current life as it pertains to this post.

There's no place like home...

Have you ever had one of those days that is going so perfectly that you can't believe how wonderful it really is?

Well, this is the story of the other shoe dropping on one of those days.

Friday, Nov. 12, was honestly a great day. I had officially finished my practicum observation hours in TESOL, worked on homework, attended a great class discussion in Spanish with our guest speaker and discovered that I had a paycheck in my mailbox, all before 2 p.m. I found myself walking back to my apartment after class wondering how the day could possibly be any better!

In hindsight, I sometimes laugh at my own optimism.

If I could turn back time...

Have you ever wanted to just turn the clock back on a portion of your life? You know, hit the rewind button and record over that mistake you made or that word you said in anger?

Sadly the closest thing to turning back time that I've ever been able to accomplish comes once a year when the world returns to normal and Daylight Savings Time ends. Ironically and perfectly enough, that time is tonight (at least in the USA, that is). I'm actually typing this in anticipation of seeing whether I need to manually reset my cell phone clock or if it will handle the change on its own (as so much technology seems to do lately...who needs humans anymore? But that's a completely different topic).

Speaking of things I haven't done this semester...

I've had quite an adventure over the past few months, that great adventure called "senior year".

Thus far, I have experienced probably every feeling possible on the spectrum of human emotion and have been stretched physically, mentally and emotionally more than I ever thought possible in a three month period.

Here at the climax of my final fall semester as an undergraduate, I find myself in a calm before a storm. Within the next week, I am expecting e-mails, phone calls and professional opinions that will directly decide what my experiences of the next 6 months will be, which will then ultimately snowball into my post-grad life.

The atmosphere is charged with anticipation as I watch and wait for decisions to be made and information to surface that will allow me to continue in the decision-making process that will determine my future, both next semester and after graduation.

Sunglasses in the rain

A rainstorm is the last place one thinks about seeing illumination, but the impossibility of this idea was disproven to me the other day.

I was driving on the interstate, Murfreesboro-bound, after a long day at work, when I ran into a torrential downpour. Insistent to reach my destination, I pushed on, though at a much slower rate than the 70 mph speed limit.

The further I drove through the storm, the more the clouds began to change. Little by little, they lightened from a blackish-grey to a lighter and lighter gray. Eventually I could see beams of sunshine breaking through the clouds.

But the rain never ceased. It became lighter at points, but not once was I able to turn my windshield wipers off. In spite of this, I soon found myself reaching for my sunglasses. What a silly notion, wearing sunglasses in the rain!

And yet the brilliance of the light reflecting against the rain made those shades so necessary to drive safely.

Isn't this like life sometimes? We complain about going through storms and torrential downpours unaware that the potential for brilliance at the end of it all is magnified by that rain that we so often curse. After all, how do you think rainbows are formed?

I think next time I'm going through a storm, I'm not going to curse the rain. I'm going to wonder how God is going to use it to completely light up my life.

Stories. We've all got 'em.

Upon learning that I would be returning to work the day after our flight back from Argentina, a fellow student on the trip made an observation that I have been reflecting on for the past few days: we never can fully know the stories of the everyday people with which we come into contact.

Who knows if the store clerk has just returned from a wonderful adventure? Who knows what is happening in the lives of the people we pass on the street?

Working behind a cash register gives me a chance to talk to some people that I would otherwise probably have never noticed. Just in the past few days, some amazing characters have come through my line.

One old man purchased a cart full of items and could remember the exact price of every item he placed on my counter. I wonder what his story is.

One woman was buying sunless tanner for her husband, who was preparing to embark on a trip to Pakistan with another man from their church. He was changing his entire appearance in order to blend into the culture. I wonder what their story is.

One man had an amputated arm. Another was missing multiple fingers. I wonder what their stories are.

Another lady bought five or six large bags of M&Ms, each a different kind. Upon further questioning, I found out that she was using them in a team building exercise, comparing different personality types to different kinds of M&Ms. What a neat story!

The stories are endless. Everybody has a story. I wish I could listen to them all.