When I tell people I'm studying archaeology, I usually get one of two responses. It's either "That's so cool!" or "So you play in the dirt." I laugh at this, and the Indiana Jones jokes that almost always follow, from both parties. But truthfully, I've swung back and forth between these two responses myself.Today, after a check-up, I chatted with my dentist for a bit about my trip. His response was the latter. He wished me the best, but ended with the comment "Well, the real world will be waiting for you when you get back!"
It is true, this trip feels surreal on several levels. When I'm in the Arch Lab, or with the Geo-archaeologists in TN, for instance, people talk about going to Israel, and Petra, and the City of David as if it were a casual business trip, and for them it is. But for most people, going to the Holy Land is a dream never realized.
While this prompts me to feel grateful, it also places me in a position of limbo, feeling on the one hand that this trip is appropriate for my education an future, and on the other feeling like it is a fanciful venture, where responsibility and "the real world" is set aside for an experience granted only to the privileged.
As I go further and further into the field of archaeology, I find myself more and more discouraged with contemplating the road after my undergraduate degree. That being said, I am reminded that this is the case for most careers. If you look at the ladder to success, you will find it to be infinitely tall. The comforting truth is, climbing the ladder isn't what we're about in this world. Reaching a point of security in this world's system is impossible, so thank God we don't even have to try!
Instead, our purpose is in doing our work to glorify God, whatever that work may be (1 Cor. 10:31). I pray that my occupation - whatever it ends up being - is one that God will use to further his kingdom in a unique way, in a way he has prepared me for. The joy in that is I don't need to focus on my masters degree, my doctorate, my post doc. publications, finding a job, and paying off loans on top of it. I don't need to get somewhere, because I'm already there, in the care and service of God.
As Scott Oliphint points out, "While we should do our work heartily here in this world, we should never let the things of this world possess us. We should think of ourselves as only temporarily residing where we are. We do our work, and live in this place, while we wait for our true home. (The Battle Belongs to the Lord, 20).
So, then, this trip is cool, and I am blessed to go. But it's also responsible, because it's an opportunity set before me by God. I trust he has a plan for it larger than what I can see, even if I never become a full-blown archaeologist, he does not waste anything. I'm thankful for the many great things I'm sure I'll get out of it, but also trusting that he will use it in me for the good of others, and to bring him glory.
It is true, this trip feels surreal on several levels. When I'm in the Arch Lab, or with the Geo-archaeologists in TN, for instance, people talk about going to Israel, and Petra, and the City of David as if it were a casual business trip, and for them it is. But for most people, going to the Holy Land is a dream never realized.
While this prompts me to feel grateful, it also places me in a position of limbo, feeling on the one hand that this trip is appropriate for my education an future, and on the other feeling like it is a fanciful venture, where responsibility and "the real world" is set aside for an experience granted only to the privileged.
As I go further and further into the field of archaeology, I find myself more and more discouraged with contemplating the road after my undergraduate degree. That being said, I am reminded that this is the case for most careers. If you look at the ladder to success, you will find it to be infinitely tall. The comforting truth is, climbing the ladder isn't what we're about in this world. Reaching a point of security in this world's system is impossible, so thank God we don't even have to try!
Instead, our purpose is in doing our work to glorify God, whatever that work may be (1 Cor. 10:31). I pray that my occupation - whatever it ends up being - is one that God will use to further his kingdom in a unique way, in a way he has prepared me for. The joy in that is I don't need to focus on my masters degree, my doctorate, my post doc. publications, finding a job, and paying off loans on top of it. I don't need to get somewhere, because I'm already there, in the care and service of God.
As Scott Oliphint points out, "While we should do our work heartily here in this world, we should never let the things of this world possess us. We should think of ourselves as only temporarily residing where we are. We do our work, and live in this place, while we wait for our true home. (The Battle Belongs to the Lord, 20).
So, then, this trip is cool, and I am blessed to go. But it's also responsible, because it's an opportunity set before me by God. I trust he has a plan for it larger than what I can see, even if I never become a full-blown archaeologist, he does not waste anything. I'm thankful for the many great things I'm sure I'll get out of it, but also trusting that he will use it in me for the good of others, and to bring him glory.
Love this. Love you. Praise God! Love, Grace
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