2008 Woodie Awards
Pondering her own future
Liturgy Corner
Sarah Hasser
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Where do I go next? This is often a thought that goes through my mind. I think I have life all figured out, but then something dramatic occurs in my life and things change. I have discovered this past year that change is inevitable. Yes, I always knew life was about change, but the reality of change has hit home lately. I traded in my dorm keys for car keys and a place to sleep in my parents' house. My older sister got engaged and will be wed in July (to a guy that I wish had a brother for me). My younger sister moved 10 hours away to study religious education, and my younger brother plunged into his first year of high school. In the midst of this, I continue to hit the books and sit through lectures in the hope of being a physical therapist someday.
When contemplating my life I sometimes wonder if PT is what I have really been called to do-should I do something else, or find "Mr. Right" and forget the whole school thing and be a stay-at-home mom? Then I discover something new about PT that I love, and I am reassured that I am studying the right thing. Just yesterday, as a required part of the program, I purchased numerous gadgets and devices to use in my therapy classes. I opened the packaging to discover "PT toys"(a walking belt, a reflex hammer and a blood pressure measuring device).
A liberal-arts school is about developing the whole person and not just training professionals for specific careers. When I first heard this, my initial response was "whatever," but in the past couple of years I have found this to be true. There is more to life than being a physical therapist. My adult life will be about those I love, family, friends and my faith. My career as a physical therapist is only a part of my life as a whole. I have a long life ahead of me, and my choices today can change who I am tomorrow or even the kids I hope to have in the future.
It is my responsibility to choose wisely. I may live like my grandfather someday, swinging away at golf balls. I may also find that community service, running, building relationships and physical therapy are all things that I was created to be involved in.
Everything I choose can influence those around me. Yes, I learned this in preschool, but it seems I am continually reminded of this lesson today. Last semester, I chose to stay home and study for the next day's big kinesiology test instead going to the David Crowder Band concert. I was looking forward to this concert for weeks, but because I put off studying I had to stay home. I was bummed, and I could have blamed the whole dilemma on that stupid test, but the truth was that I chose to surf the Internet over studying.
So how can I make sure I make the right choices to find "Mr. Right," live in the right place, attend the right church and breathe at the right time? It seems hopeless for me to stumble through it on my own. One of my friends at Mizzou told me that he planned to have his major and the rest of his life figured out by his 20th birthday (which is next October).
"Um," I told him, "that is going to be hard to do. Some people who are 50 still don't have life figured out. Heck, my dad went back to college twice. I have a feeling that we can't really figure out our lives until they are over."
It is impossible to predict at this exact moment when my parents will die, or when the next tsunami will come. So how can I really know how to plan for my future? It is impossible to really know; I can just make choices. How do I make the right choices? I choose to ask God to guide me. He knows more about me then I ever can know because he created me and knows every hair on my head (even the few strands that got stuck in the car door last Thursday).
One reason I talk to God and join a community of believers at church every Sunday is to ask God to put me on the right path. I try to give Him at least five minutes every day to talk to me through scripture or prayer. There are many days when I miss those five minutes or fall asleep while trying to read the Bible at midnight. At least when I do give Him some time He pulls me back in line and I find that my choices are just right for me.
Sarah Hasser, a junior studying Physical Therapy, is in the Liturgical Internship Program this year at the Center for Liturgy. Liturgical interns are funded by the VOICES Project, which seeks to enhance a sense of vocation in all members of the University community.