Forget what then, Here is NOW!

I've been thinking a lot about the next year and all that it has in store for me. I will be in a classroom as a "student teacher" all next year. Then, in May, I will take the short walk across the platform that signifies my proceeding from college student to college graduate, the transformation from student to adult.

The question I've been getting a lot lately is "what then?" What happens after I graduate? What will I do then? It's the most common response to my telling someone that I only have one year left. So, in response, I've been thinking a lot about my "next step."

This time away has given me a good look at what life may be like away from my family that I love so dearly. Despite that I have only been gone for 3 weeks and that I am staying with family, I miss my siblings terribly. Skype is a wonderful thing that allows me to have conversations with them (without cell phone charges) and I actually get to see them. It's not the same as seeing them in person, but it's the next best thing.

The reason I say this is because for a while now, I've been feeling that I really want to teach overseas at least for a year or two before I actually "settle down." I've always loved traveling and experiencing new cultures, but I haven't yet got to actually become a part of a new culture. I have such a hunger for new places and people and new environments outside of the  United States that it has been all I could do to stay stateside for these past 3 years.
I'm not quite sure where I want to go; I'd love to see Europe, but I'd also love to visit South America. At this point, my options are endless. Maybe I'll spend one year teaching in Europe, exploring on the weekends, and another year teaching in Argentina or Chile. Who knows where God will take me after I graduate.

But truly, before I can even begin to really think and get excited for the what then I must first embrace the here and now. There's a Steven Curtis Chapman song that talks about doing everything you do for the glory of God, and that is my prayer for this time, and always. No matter where I go or what I do, I pray that I do it as if it is for the Lord. We can easily get caught up in the what ifs and if onlys and as soon as I finish this project I can start the next one mentalities that often the present slips away. I'm praying for purpose for TODAY. Each day, one step at a time. =)