Monday 16 June 2014

Life and Hannah Montana

With just a week left until I head back to bonnie Scotland, I’ve been reflecting a lot on this past year. I’ve been chucked out a house, locked out my flat, met some incredible people, gained some hugely useful life and work experience, visited some unforgettable places and learnt from it all. All in all, I am blessed beyond belief to have had this experience. Throughout everything, I was reminded of the wise words of Hannah Montana “Life’s what you make it so let’s make it rock.” LOLZZZ. But for reals, before I came away I was asking a friend who had done a similar year what I could expect, and she said “It is what you make it.” That stuck with me, and helped me really appreciate everything as it was happening.


I also have a newfound appreciation for home. It’s been said a million times that love is like coming home, and I count myself incredibly blessed to know that my home IS love. This is where I crack out some linguistic awesomeness: The Spanish for “I miss you” is “Te echo de menos” and actually comes from the Portuguese “Achar menos” which means “feel the need of/for” or “to find oneself less than before.” I love this because it describes pretty perfectly how I have felt this year. Yes, I have missed my family and friends, but more importantly, I have realised the need I feel for them. Language can be beautiful.


I’m now facing the beginning of my Honours course, where I’ll spend a semester in Glasgow then one in France somewhere, then after that I’ll enter my final year and (if I pass) I’ll graduate in 2016! I’m saying this deliberately, because I’ve learnt this year that it doesn’t help to live your life constantly thinking about the next thing and the future. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely have goals and I have a loose plan for my life...but God has an even greater plan for me and I’d never forgive myself if I missed his plan by being so focused on my own. Life is beautiful. I don’t know when it became cool to be cynical, or naive to be optimistic, but I don’t care. Life is truly beautiful, and you only see it when you stop to pay attention to the beauty that exists all around us. As a Christian this is something close to my heart. I want to be able to tell God that I marvelled at His creation every chance I got. The smile on the face of a loved one, the smell of home, the joy of laughing with old friends, the strangers who accept you and treat you like one of their own, the heavy nostalgia when you hear certain songs, the treasure of shared memories. How incredible is this life?!



This is why I will forever choose to go on Wandering through this life in Hope, Faith and Love.


Thank you so so much to everyone who has followed me and encouraged me this year, I hope I was able to bring a bit of joy and humour to your day!


Dios te bendiga,


Eilidh