Text Message

Tonight, I finally did it right.

Well, we finally did it right.

Let me explain.

You see, to be quite honest, this internship is really challenging my ability to know my boundaries between my work life and my personal life. In these past three weeks, I have frequently found myself working over-hours at the church, when I return home to "relax," or even on days off. Because I love and care so deeply about the work that I'm doing, I've quickly discovered that it's difficult for me to leave a job incomplete or unaddressed.

In the past, I've often congratulated myself for my disciplined work ethic-especially while tackling multiple papers, projects, and exams throughout school. (Can anyone say multi-tasker?) Since returning home and with school out of session, I now realize that my driven work ethic has created a messy boundary between work and time spent with my friends and family, one of the major deciding factors for me to return home for the summer. One relationship that has become particularly strained is that between my boyfriend, Adam Flora, and myself. Adam also interns at CCV, and in addition to trying to balance our time together at work compared to outside work, Adam has noticed the very quick exhaustion that has crept upon me because of overextending myself.

So today, Adam did what only the best boyfriends of the 21st Century do to help a damsel in distress.

He texted me, asking me out to dinner.
"You need it," he replied. "And you're absolutely not allowed to talk about work."

Now I'll admit, I'm still missing the romance of a text-message date, but I was very excited at the thought of going out to dinner. And as the story continued, Adam picked me up from the church at 8pm (as I was finishing a worship practice), drove to Ortino's Northside Restaurant (and old favorite of mine), and we enjoyed a night full of conversation and laughs together.

Time together-outside of work-not doing work. The medicine cured me perfectly.

I love how God creatively places people in our lives to help us better understand His bigger picture. It is so easy to become wrapped up in the "work life," especially at a great place like CCV. Yet, my job-CCV-is not my life. It is only a part of my life.

The other part-time with my friends and family-time with my boyfriend-time for myself-is and equally, if not more important part of God's bigger picture.

I'm beginning to put the pieces together...slowly.

I'm finally beginning to do it right.

I cannot wait until my next romantic text-message dinner invitation. :)