What I Have Learned This Semester
For those of you who have been keeping track of my progress through this semester, since I don't use tag 99% of the time, most of you have been, you'll know that it has not been my best. I have struggled pretty hard core with a lot this year so far, from the death of my grandma, dealing with my roommates, to figuring out how to mend friendship that have been slipping.
But looking back at this semester, as it is now drawing to a close within a few days now, I have been able to pick up on a common theme through all of what I have dealt with these past three and a half trying months. That is: Don't Leave Your Friend's Behind. In my reflection of these past number of weeks, I am able to see how this idea fits into everything I have experienced.
In the case of my grandma's death, I was blessed with a large family that truly loves and cares for one another. We all have been best friends ever since birth, and in our most trying hours, we stood together firm. We didn't leave friends/family behind. We came through alright, and for that I am truly grateful, for I would have had a much harder time with this situation without them.
The situation with my roommates does not have the same feeling that my grandma's situation did. Yes, they are two different kinds of suffering, but both are/were equally draining. Here is an example of where I felt I was left behind. I was kicked out of a triple with friends and forced into this current situation. I was left behind. Because of this situation, i have felt like crap all semester, I have held hate in my heart towards those who I felt were responsible which hurt, I slept as often as I could, even if I wasn't tired, just to get through the day that much faster. Only recently have I tried to fix what was broken, and while it is still difficult, I feel like it needs to be fixed.
This lends right into the next segment of my life that I have learned quite a lot from. Friendship is valuable, and it is resilient. No matter how angry I get, or how much I blame them, or how much I call them out on stupid meaningless stuff, they are always there for me. Which hurts, because I was so mad at them for so long, They Never Truly Left Me Behind. They may have unintentionally and non-maliciously forgotten about me twice this semester, but I cannot blame them for being human. I need to forgive. (Not my favorite thing to do...)
I have a lot of work to do, but I am thankful that I do not need to do it alone anymore, I have Jesus, Jen, and my friends.
"Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." Colossians 3:12-14
