Sororities tend to get a bad rap. Usually when I tell someone that I was in a sorority they write me off as some beer bonging, boy crazy, not-so-smart girl living off of her daddy’s credit card. If I’m being honest with you, I didn’t exactly break that stereotype before I really lived for Jesus. But if I’m being even more honest with you, that typical picture isn’t so typical. However, that is not the main point I want to get across in this blog. What I’m really trying to get at is how being in a sorority prepared me for the world race.
Tomorrow my team will change. The women that I have been doing life with 24/7 for the past four months will no longer be by my side. I’ll have to learn to live in community with completely new people. In a way it feels like I’m starting over, just with a much different perspective than when I first came onto the field. But this is nothing new to me. In a sorority you get brand new girls each fall; some you remember having a brief conversation with during recruitment, some you absolutely love after just a few days spent getting to know them, and others you don’t even remember seeing. One line from my sorority’s creed that always helped me when getting to know new members is “to look for the good in everyone”. This motto will decidedly be how I go into life with my new team; to try to see them the way that God sees them.
In a sorority there are many different positions, as is true of a world race squad. What I learned after leadership in my sorority, however, is that sometimes the “unofficial” roles that you play are far greater than any position with a title. Friend, counselor, mom, cook, cuddle buddy, shoulder to cry on, creative mind and comedian are all crucial players in a group and are often times the secret to success.
Being in a sorority taught me how to rally for a good cause and get people excited about the work that you’re doing. It taught me how small my problems really are and how much better life is when you’re not living it just for yourself. October will never again be just a fun Fall month to me after being a member of an organization whose philanthropy is breast cancer awareness and education. It will instead make me think of pink outs and bake sales and Yoplait yogurt lid collections and handing out pink awareness ribbons at NFL football games. Similarly, travel will never again be just an escape from reality for me. I’ll always be looking for a place to serve, people to help, and ways to bring my light to the area that I’m in.
Finally, being in a sorority and being a world racer both taught me to break stereotypes. Christians, just like sorority girls, don’t always get the best or most accurate picture painted of themselves (in obviously different ways, of course). In my experience, being a young Christian meant you didn’t really fit in anywhere else; you had pimply skin and braces and long, plain dresses that you wore as you sat in and read on a Saturday night. During my short four months on the field, I’ve come to learn that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to being a Christian. In fact, often times the only thing you have in common with a teammate is that you both love Jesus. But that’s the beauty of this process. You get to learn from so many different people in the most beautiful yet broken places of this great big world who have pasts and stories that are strikingly different than your own. And just as you would in a sorority, you buck up and learn to thrive in a life spent with these not-so-long-ago strangers.
Sometimes I look around me and wonder what I did to deserve the life that I have been blessed with. What I’m learning is that it’s all about perspective. Whether you’re in a sorority or on a missions trip or a sports team or working on a group project at your job, it’s all about how you see the situation. Looking for the good in everyone and everything and seeing things the way that God intends for us to see them has made me enjoy the ride a lot more.
