Sharing Life
Enter the gymnasium on campus for the all-club gathering during club week, and you won't know what you've gotten yourself into. You will find yourself surrounded by screaming college students chanting their club cheers while dressed up in colorful costumes and willing to do anything - no matter how ridiculous - for the sake of their club. Every club is represented at the all-club devo, but there is still a spirit of unity as everyone comes together in one place for an evening of enthusiasm and fun. You can feel the energy and taste the excitement. It really is quite a crazy sight, but I must admit that I enjoy every minute of it!
At the end of this year's club week, I cannot help but reflect on all the activities and see something more. As a student pledging last year, I wrote about that experience in a previous blog post here. I also wrote about club week as a freshman here. It seems appropriate that I also record a few more reflections from this year now that I am already a member of a club and am seeing things from the "other side".
First of all, I learned that I can function as a nursing major on 4 hours of sleep for multiple nights in a row. I learned that I don't really have any shoes or jackets that match a pink and green outfit, but that's okay. I learned that shaving cream makes your hair really nasty and that warm showers feel really good after rolling in the grass. I learned that I cannot dance or stomp, but I did learn how to laugh at myself.
More importantly, I learned that it is okay to go crazy for the things that you love. I'm not talking about going crazy for the club that you love, but going crazy for the people that you love. This week, I watched our new and old members alike wrap their arms around each other and support each other in amazing, creative, and maybe even crazy ways. That's what club week does - it brings you together to share life together.
Perhaps that is the most important thing I learned this week. I learned that a family lives life together by sharing joys and carrying burdens for one another. Family reaches out in weaknesses and brings out strengths. Family means really getting to know the hearts of the people around you.
Over and over again this week, I was reminded that family is designed and desired by Christ. We long for depth in relationships because God designed us that way, and only He can meet that need. He doesn't want to just give us a family, but He wants to be a part of our family - in fact, the very center and core of every family and relationship.
So even in the craziness of club week, God is speaking and working. He is teaching us about community, about family, about unity. He is showing us our desperate need for relationship - a need that He wants to meet by inviting us into personal relationship with Himself. And once we enter that beautiful relationship with Him, He introduces us into the biggest family we have ever known - a family of believers that shares life together. We share struggles, joys, successes, failures, strengths, and weaknesses.
We go crazy for each other and for the Lord because He is the creator of this big, beautiful family.
At the end of this year's club week, I cannot help but reflect on all the activities and see something more. As a student pledging last year, I wrote about that experience in a previous blog post here. I also wrote about club week as a freshman here. It seems appropriate that I also record a few more reflections from this year now that I am already a member of a club and am seeing things from the "other side".
First of all, I learned that I can function as a nursing major on 4 hours of sleep for multiple nights in a row. I learned that I don't really have any shoes or jackets that match a pink and green outfit, but that's okay. I learned that shaving cream makes your hair really nasty and that warm showers feel really good after rolling in the grass. I learned that I cannot dance or stomp, but I did learn how to laugh at myself.
More importantly, I learned that it is okay to go crazy for the things that you love. I'm not talking about going crazy for the club that you love, but going crazy for the people that you love. This week, I watched our new and old members alike wrap their arms around each other and support each other in amazing, creative, and maybe even crazy ways. That's what club week does - it brings you together to share life together.
Perhaps that is the most important thing I learned this week. I learned that a family lives life together by sharing joys and carrying burdens for one another. Family reaches out in weaknesses and brings out strengths. Family means really getting to know the hearts of the people around you.
Over and over again this week, I was reminded that family is designed and desired by Christ. We long for depth in relationships because God designed us that way, and only He can meet that need. He doesn't want to just give us a family, but He wants to be a part of our family - in fact, the very center and core of every family and relationship.
So even in the craziness of club week, God is speaking and working. He is teaching us about community, about family, about unity. He is showing us our desperate need for relationship - a need that He wants to meet by inviting us into personal relationship with Himself. And once we enter that beautiful relationship with Him, He introduces us into the biggest family we have ever known - a family of believers that shares life together. We share struggles, joys, successes, failures, strengths, and weaknesses.
We go crazy for each other and for the Lord because He is the creator of this big, beautiful family.
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