I’ve been engaged to the beautiful Erin Winget for about two and a half weeks now. Thanks to a wonderful family friend the wedding plans are already underway with just about no stress for us. I’m not really overwhelmed, but I do feel the weight of transition and an increased responsibility that comes with my life being tied to another person.
On Saturday we’ll sign a lease on an apartment (we’re not living together but will, in fact, do a little dance over the next couple months, each of us staying in the new place when the other is out of the country and one of us staying with friends when we’re both Stateside). We had to move quick on committing to the place because it was in a building in downtown Gainesville, GA where space hardly ever comes open. We didn’t have a lot of time to make the decision. I usually like to do tons of research before I make a call like that and I thought through the decision for days afterward.
We’ve decided to have only one car, thinking mainly of minimizing our car insurance payments. Erin’s looking into health insurance for the two of us. We’re starting to look at sofas, televisions, stuff that costs more than a nice pair of shoes.
I can’t help but feel like I’m growing up. And then I think about how I turned 25 last Saturday. Is it too late to be growing up? I’ve always thought about budgeting my finances better, but I’ve never actually done it.
Now that I’m walking into deep connection with another person, things like budgeting my finances and planning for the future seem all that much more urgent. But even more than that, I feel more like the kind of person who does those things. Planning ahead and controlling my spending feels like something I can actually do, moreso than in the past.
My brother once told me he had a hard time keeping a workout routine. He always thought of himself as an undisciplined person. Then he rethought his conception of himself. He said, “I am in Christ and His Spirit lives in me. Therefore I manifest the fruits of the Spirit, one of which is self-control.” Once he redefined who he was in his mind, he was able to stick to a workout routine.
It’s funny how we can believe ourselves to be a certain kind of a person for so long, then some event comes along in our life and our whole perspective of who we are is shifted.
What events in your life have caused you to re-examine how you think of yourself? How did God factor in to the equation? Have you ever re-examined your identity after simply reading a new definition of who you are in Christ in scripture? Which Scripture helps you to remember the truth of your identity?
