The Lie of the Guidance Counselor

Life is never as straightforward as we would like it to be.
It's funny how the older as person gets, the more we realize that we cannot control our future. There are times that we point ourselves in a certain direction, but the place we end up is somewhere quite different, and you look back and feel "well how the  heck did I end up here?"

Remember doing aptitude testing in grade school? You sit down with a counselor and answer 25 questions and BAM - they gave you a list of 10 occupations perfectly suited for you. You could be a pilot, an entertainer or a mailman. You were to choose these courses in high school and all the guess work  was now taken out of play. Life was under control and you were on your way.

Obviously it never ends up that way. If averages hold true, most of us will work in  7-10 different career fields over the course of our lives. We'll have major transitions in what our personal life. We'll live in different cities (or countries) and experience things we never dreamed of nor planned for. I'm 34 and have worked in 4 or 5 different career fields, changed from a fast-food eating machine at 20 to a vegetable smoothie lover at 30. I spent three years pursuing a masters degree that I only spent 1 year utilizing in that specific career field. Really I blame my guidance counselor. His computer program was obviously faulty. It said pilot.

I think the coolest thing about it all is that God knew and made sure we were ready. While we thought we were preparing for one thing, he was really just using that phase of life to help us gain skills to succeed in the next. I suppose the biggest learning is that what we are doing is not as important as learning while we are doing it. Every phase of life seems to offer us a chance to learn about ourselves, our strengths and our growth areas. It gives us an opportunity to acquire a new skill or a new perspective on life. We may think that we have the next step all figured out, but then things change or God speaks, and life moves you in a brand new direction.

And that's OK. The next change is really nothing more than a new opportunity to grow - a chance to experience life in a brand new way

Love to hear your responses - and maybe a place or a job you never dreamed you would be in.