COLLEGE COURAGE Our Comfort and Protector BY SARAH JENKINS
W
hen I was little, it was customary for me to wake up in the middle of the night.
In my younger years, this meant a trip to my parents’ room and the reassurance of finding a place in their bed. I found comfort in knowing that, despite the queen-sized bed being made for two, my parents always found a way to make room for a third. On these nights, my mother would tell me to imagine colors dancing around on a white screen. My father would tell me to imagine the ocean, to envision the constant crashing of waves against the shoreline. Everyone has their thing, the one that coaxed them back to dreamland, often embedded in their brain by those that ran the home that raised them. They provide a sense of familiarity, one that transcends all spaces and times and simply provides the feeling of home no matter where in the world you might be. My recent shift from college to what some call the action of “adulting” has been a conundrum for me. I wake up in my new city to go to my new job to be accompanied by the new characters that occupy my life - it all feels so new. Perhaps that’s why I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night. And perhaps that’s why the colors and the ocean are the only things that bring me back to sleep. It’s not truly about the colors and the ocean but rather the ones that spoke them to life - it’s about the people that made room for me in their bed only made for two. It’s about clinging to the lessons they taught me and the values they instilled in me. It’s about making a home for myself, just as they made for me. New beginnings are scary, but the language of comfort spoken by a parent is what paves a well-lit path. And that’s exactly what God does for us.
As I navigate this new season of my life, I can’t help but think about all the ways God has protected me even in the times I don’t fully see them, all the times He’s provided the vision of colors and the ocean to allow me to re-enter my slumber each night. I, self-admittedly, get too distracted by the landscape of my life to pause and recognize the familiarity and protection He’s provided to make each of my days better. Psalm 121:7-8 tells us, The Lord will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. (NIV) While I’m thankful for protection from the harm, I more often think about how He keeps watch over my life, something I always thought of my parents doing for me. On the nights when I couldn’t sleep, my parents were on guard, watching me until I fell asleep with the visions of colors and the ocean dancing around my head. Now I’m older, and they watch me blaze my own trail through the adult world, still keeping watch but emboldening me to take each step on my own. God is watching us as the ultimate parent, cheering us on in each moment and placing choices in our decisive hands. He knows what we will ultimately choose, yet He provides us protection from all we don’t see ahead. In the moments when things get hard, that guard manifests itself as comfort - it’s the colors and the ocean that bring us back to sleep. He has always been our protector, but He speaks our language of comfort, too. Sarah is a recent graduate of Florida State University, with degrees in Political Science and Public Relations. She has a distinct love and passion for people, often translated through the art of writing. Sarah has committed her future to the power of communicating well in the sphere of politics, while praising the God who will get her there!
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