do life big

So I kind of hate summer. I like having free time with family and (relatively) no stress, but I miss schedules and agendas. So I tend to fill up my summers (that is not to say I don’t enjoy the things I fill it with) with whatever service opportunities I can find. This past summer was no different and I loved every sweaty minute of it.

I went to INDIA for a week and a half! It was magical and far exceeded my expectations. As hard as I try, I just can’t find the words to describe my time there (something that is a rare occurrence for me). I soaked in the cultural experiences and asked so many questions! I walked through areas where I could feel the evil around me. I saw absolute poverty and girls who were unwanted. if I could live in India and adopt all of the children, I would (I may yet!). I might die from the heat index, though.

I slept for a week before going to youth camp with my church (whatever possessed me to volunteer to go to youth camp a mere week after flying home from India, I’ve no idea). I was exhausted and skipped a few late night activities to get some extra sleep, but I loved spending time with some of my favorite teenagers. The rest of my summer was spent doing stuff like a Nerf war, volunteering at an inner city mission, and spending time with friends. I don’t know if any of those things (or anything else I did this summer) necessarily changed a life; but I was able to help other leaders and continue building my community while serving.

As summer draws to a close, I’m super excited to be back at my apartment and getting involved with life there, but I’m so thankful for this summer! Someone said, “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others” and I am in love with this quote. There’s a certain kind of joy that comes only from helping others. It’s easy to look at life at wonder, “what can I get out of this?” But when you give, you tend to receive even bigger blessings.

There’s a song by Jamie Grace called “Do Life Big” I remember the first time I listened to that song and thought, “that’s what I want, to do life big.”

But what does that even mean?

I think I was in college when I first heard the song and my idea of doing anything big meant spending hours in the library and keeping up with classes (yes, I’m a nerd). If you listen to the rest of the lyrics, you’ll understand she isn’t necessarily talking about skydiving, but rather enjoying life…and enjoying life serving others.

“I wanna love, serve, and give every chance I get…I wanna do life big.”