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Pre-College

My daughter, currently a high school junior, is now convinced she should take a gap year.

For a while, she's struggled with the pressure of making good grades and scoring high marks on college entrance exams. She was determined to earn a running scholarship and convinced herself that she needed to take a heavy load of AP and honors classes.

Now, she just wants to travel.

She's researched programs in Korea, Kenya, and Hawaii. To her, everything feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Last night, she told me she wanted to join Habitat for Humanity or AmeriCorps because her dad and I both did it. Maybe she doesn't fully understand what that experience truly entails.

As I started to ponder the differences between my life and hers, it dawned on me just how quickly I grew up at her age.

The circumstances were very different. Mine was a tough life.

I never had the traditional college experience. When I left home on my 18th birthday, I never returned. Adulthood came fast, and there wasn't much time to explore who I wanted to be or what path I wanted to take.

God's plans for our lives can seem so complex at times, yet so simple. We all wrestle with questions about our purpose. We all wonder which path is best and what we should do next. In the end, each of us travels life's journey differently.

As I try to guide my daughter toward the path that's right for her, it's sometimes difficult for her to understand how different our experiences have been. For now, she's simply a young woman standing on the edge of adulthood, looking toward the future with excitement and possibility.

And perhaps that's exactly where she's supposed to be.

We'll continue to pray, offer guidance, and trust that the Lord will lead her exactly where she needs to go.

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