Meet my son Christian. He is 18. As you can see, he just graduated from high school. If you have really good vision you might be able to spot the Honors seal on his diploma. Yes, I’m a proud mom. In the fall he starts college at a university that is practically in our back yard.
So now Christian is hearing those popular “graduate” questions:
“What do you plan to study?”
“Have you chosen a major yet?”
“What do you want to do, as far as a career?”
Even with an honors diploma, scholarships, and admission to a university Christian honestly doesn’t know what he wants to do or even major in. You’d think that, as a parent, I would be upset by this. But I’m not. Here is why.
I know that Christian is smart, has a variety of interests, and works hard. Obviously he will be successful in whatever he chooses.
I know that many kids who do have a major declared will most likely change it.
When I was 18 I thought I knew what I wanted. I changed my major to something more practical half-way through college (from Theater to Early Childhood Studies). Now I’m doing something completely different. So much for knowing my ideal career path right out of high school.
I understand that it takes awhile to see God’s plan. Christian is clearly searching for it, so I know he’ll find it.
Are you in the same boat? Did you rush off the graduation platform to a mob of friends and relatives wanting a list of your future goals? If you had to honestly answer, “I’m not sure,” don’t feel bad. Christian is an example that other smart, talented graduates don’t know either. But you can feel encouraged, knowing that God has an incredible plan for you.
Now you get to start the exciting process of finding out what it is.
So now Christian is hearing those popular “graduate” questions:
“What do you plan to study?”
“Have you chosen a major yet?”
“What do you want to do, as far as a career?”
Even with an honors diploma, scholarships, and admission to a university Christian honestly doesn’t know what he wants to do or even major in. You’d think that, as a parent, I would be upset by this. But I’m not. Here is why.
I know that Christian is smart, has a variety of interests, and works hard. Obviously he will be successful in whatever he chooses.
I know that many kids who do have a major declared will most likely change it.
When I was 18 I thought I knew what I wanted. I changed my major to something more practical half-way through college (from Theater to Early Childhood Studies). Now I’m doing something completely different. So much for knowing my ideal career path right out of high school.
I understand that it takes awhile to see God’s plan. Christian is clearly searching for it, so I know he’ll find it.
Are you in the same boat? Did you rush off the graduation platform to a mob of friends and relatives wanting a list of your future goals? If you had to honestly answer, “I’m not sure,” don’t feel bad. Christian is an example that other smart, talented graduates don’t know either. But you can feel encouraged, knowing that God has an incredible plan for you.
Now you get to start the exciting process of finding out what it is.
1 comment:
I graduated from HS last year among much of the same and thought for about 2/3s of this year that I would major in math. Our department is highly theoretical (so we almost never saw an actual math problem) that it then became evident that a subject I had once loved was not for me, at least at this University. Wanting to do Neuroscience in grad school and beyond, I kept switching what I would tell people I was majoring in. First it was Math and Psych with a minor in Music (ambitious but I had (almost) figured out how to fit it all), then Psych and Music majors, then Bio and Music with a minor in Psych, then I started thinking about Computer Science... obviously it got pretty nuts. My advisor and my acceptance of common sense made it clear what I really need to do is Bio, if I want to do Neuroscience, so I'm going to do so Bio next year and see how it goes. In the meantime, I've stopped telling people I know what I'm majoring in, and just tell them I want to eventually be doing Neuroscience research. It's nice trusting God to figure out how to make it work, and exciting to where He'll take me.
Best of luck to Christian!
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