Seamless Lives of Faith | 1 Corinthians 13:12

Rachel Haines ‘25

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

For me and for one other fellow, this has been the week leading up to spring break, as we both work at Trinity Christian School. I’ve been looking forward to the break, since I can use it to visit my family and attend the wedding of a friend back in my college town of Chattanooga. 

It is also the season of Lent, which has been a topic of discussion among us fellows. Social media, coffee, sugar, and makeup are the fasts of choice for some of our cohort. Several of the fellows have been hosted by my mentor, Amy, in a Thursday night bible study. This week we shared with each other about how integral one's heart posture is when partaking in any spiritual discipline, including fasting. We can so easily become legalistic and miss the whole point of fasting: further dependence on the Lord, which leads to deeper relationship with Him, and by extension with others. As a group, we have been memorizing Psalm 119:97-104, which has been a challenging but rewarding practice to add to the Lenten season! I absolutely recommend it.

At our semi-weekly youth family training dinner, Rachel Medefind spoke on mental health, and how we may find the younger generation of students experiencing conversations on mental health. She posited that a healthy, functioning church can be an ideal provider of mental health care. My experience with churches has been varied, which I think is common; but it was encouraging to be reminded of what the goal can and ought to be. 

At work, we are approaching our ultimate yearbook deadline. It is satisfying to see the pages come together to create a cohesive publication. Small pieces fall into place every day, while the final result has yet to be realized. 

Pages of a book. Fasting. Mental health care. Weddings. Lately, I have been reminded by so many parts of my life of how much more is to be revealed. The pages of a book are elements of a larger story. Mental health care reveals to us that we are finite and fragile creatures, yet we have knowledge and hope to help one another.  And the joy of the wedding I will witness is yet nothing compared to the true and final wedding supper of the Lamb.