It’s funny how people always come up with interesting thoughts at the most inopportune times. Furthermore, these thoughts tend to be some of the most developed thoughts that a person can have. We all do it. We sit on a bus or wait in line and think about what happened during the day, or some insignificant event and then it hits you. A thought that is like a light bulb turning on - or a slap in the face. It’s in this way that some of the greatest inventions were made! Now I’ m not saying what I am about to say is comparable to a great invention, or an epic tale. No. What I am about to say is just pure random thoughts that I would like to share.

As a senior at Texas A&M, I have had A LOT of time to do things. I have had time to go to class, to run, to study, to make friends, to listen to music, to go to movies, to go to concerts, to go on road trips, to party, to go to church, to go to bible study, to visit family, etc. and I must say - college has been a fun ride. Yet, that ride wasn’t always fun and games. It was a struggle. It was a maze full of twists and turns that was so complicated I thought I would never find the exit.

Now I look back at the maze, as if from a distance, or from a peak. I can see the start, and I can see the finish. I can see the cloudy skies, and the clear ones. I can see the ups and downs as an artistic puzzle that creates the timeline of my college career. And although there are some sad times that up close seem depressing or seem to stick out, they actually complement the good times. Or rather, the good times and the bad times go hand in hand. So, therefore, in my spontaneous thoughts, I discovered college is a piece of art. College combines the good and the bad to create a piece of art. But technically, isn’t our whole life a piece of art? God did create us. He created each of us as a unique person in His image. So college is a piece of the artistic timeline or a collective masterpiece that God, the artist, has created. He is molding or shaping a piece that has been changing and will be changing for the rest of life. 

But, how could the mistakes, which create an ugly palette of color, add to a masterpiece? Easy. The mistakes are what make us what we are now. The mistakes and the mishaps and the bad times are how we grow. This may all seems stupid, and some people out there that are younger than me probably feel like this is old news, but I wish I could have thought of this when I was a freshman. I have seen myself and many others go from day to day being nervous for this or anxious for that or sad for failing a test or screwing up relationships and feeling like there is no hope left. But, I am here to tell you, although times are rough, and there seems to be nothing going for you now, there is hope. The sun will come out the next day. I promise. Also, there is a reason. I truly believe the mistakes that we make are for a reason. The mistakes that you or I make or the rough patches we go through are there for a purpose of changing us as people. So then, they aren’t ugly mistakes. Rather, they are beautiful mistakes. Beautiful, life-changing, mistakes that make us who we are today. 

So as people we have a choice. We can choose to wallow in our mistakes, and look and mourn over the past, or we can look ahead, see them as part of the big picture, and no matter the circumstances realize that we are in God’s hands :)

“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” - Psalm 27:14 ESV