Well hello. This is Amy J. Fredman here.
As a young woman who best figures things out when she's communicating with the people around her, I welcome you to our conversation together. What is the conversation? About what it means to grow up.
You see, part of me is convinced that we never truly finish growing up. That in some way, we spend our whole lives unlearning bad habits, relearning the same lessons, and occasionally having the moments of epiphany where it seems like utter clarity reaches through the fog of our lives and gives us a big ole hug.
And I think that maybe, just maybe, if we decided to talk about the things that we are unlearning, relearning, and seeing glimpses of, we'll know that we're not in a journey of growing up on our own. Instead, we'll know that we're in a community, designed and orchestrated to grow up together. And maybe, if we know that we're not in it alone, we'll give ourselves and the folks around us a little more patience, a little more grace, and a little more love.
"Okay," you may say, "so that sounds all well and good. But who is this girl? Who is this young woman trying to grow up alongside of all of us?" Thanks for asking. Here's the summary edition: I work in full-time college ministry, and I love it to pieces and back again. I have seven rockin' loud nephews. I run, I eat, I talk, I sleep, I cook, I listen, I read, I write, I decorate, I thrift shop. I make mistakes, I say I'm sorry, I dance badly to terrible pop music and sing dramatically to slightly better diva music. I love Jesus, I love preaching, I love leadership, I love creativity, I love ideas, and I love imagining. I love seeing people's lives changed, and I especially love seeing college students' lives changed. And, last but not least, I am the baby of the family and the benefactress of some pretty entertaining Fredman Family Folklore. (Watch out, world.) So welcome to these attempts at growing up. Because who knows what it means, anyway? |