Ode to Junior Year

Continuing to reflect on this spring in Oxford makes me think about what a joy it is to experience the Lord’s radiance here. Oxford is a place I had a hard time adjusting to for the first few years of school … at one point I even considered transferring. I had a hard time seeing beauty in Oxford and I continuously compared it to my home in south Florida - I missed the adventure and the unmistakable and easily accessible natural beauty of a beach town.

But as my time went on in Oxford, I realized I was exactly where I needed to be. The Lord was developing me into understanding how to find beauty everywhere. Not just visually in a sunset or rainbow or field of flowers, but also in people… in God given community… in a slower paced life and college experience… in making my own adventures… in ultimately a relationship with Jesus.

Oxford, at one point was a place I always viewed in black and white, and always felt like I was looking in from the outside… but now I’m thankful to call it my home - one I fully feel a part of, so deeply connected to, and that I experience in the full spectrum of color. All this is to say, whatever season of life you are in … where ever you may be or however you may be feeling, the Lord can completely redeem your outlook and how you experience something if you hold onto hope and patience in Him and trust Him to work in you.

It’s true that we not only believe what we see but we also see what we believe… so if we look for the Lord’s beauty and wholeheartedly believe it’s everywhere, we will see more of heaven on earth and see this world as abundantly explosive in color.