"And a
voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well
pleased.’ At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert and he was in the desert
forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended
him."
I have found in reading the Lenten devotionals that the ones that are
the most effective are the ones related to the author’s life. Unfortunately, that
meant trying to find a specific example within my own life of this verse. And then it hit
me, Mark 1:11-13 accurately describes the transition from graduation last May through the
first semester of college! Now, I am no Son of God (or daughter as the case may be), but
his experiences parallel mine in some fashion.
The time period between my graduation last May and my starting college
on August 18th was special. Family and friends congratulated me on my achievement of
graduating high school. They would tell me how proud they each were. However, just as I
was getting comfortable in the role of high school graduate, it was time to uproot and
move three states away to Des Moines, Iowa. And let me tell you, Iowa does not look that
unlike a desert. And the wild animals and temptation descended quickly with 19 fire alarms
(all between the hours of 1 and 4 am) the first semester and frat parties beginning on
Wednesday nights and lasting through Sunday every weekend.
Luckily though, I also found my angels. Within the first few weeks of
school, I found four other girls (Annie, Alisa, Sarah, and Christine) who were my comfort
through the first few weeks of adaptation. Together we figured out how to have fun while
sticking to our values (lots of movie nights with pizza in addition to going out at least
once a weekend). So the five of us got through those first few months of figuring
ourselves and everything else out, all the while sticking together and sticking to our
beliefs. Angels don’t always have to have wings, sometimes they just come in the form
of four girls looking to have fun.
