More Than Just Music

In high school, one of the most stressing questions for me was what I was going to be when I grew up.  I only wish I had possessed the wisdom to quit taking the battery of tests that would try and define that question and simply responded with the healthy truth.

I am going to be me.

And then, instead of the pressure of trying to define a particular profession I might or might not really do, maybe I could have focused more on my strengths and giftings with the purpose of using those in whatever interests or jobs I found myself doing in life.

I trained to teach music.  But I am more than "just music."  I took a secretarial desk job that morphed into insurance adjuster.  But I am more than "just office worker."  I ended up being a mother four times over.  But I am more than "just mom."  I just got done with two years of volunteer Africa missions.  But I am more than "just Africa."

My school day is now centered around band, but I have another responsibility as well.  When I am not involved in band classes, I pack up my laptop and walk to the other side of campus where I have a quiet (Africa-themed) office.  And there, I suspect, I will fully learn just what "me" is capable of.

The other half of my job is Administrative Assistant to the President of Shiloh Christian School.  Not to be confused with personal secretary or filer girl which wouldn't be exciting to me at all, my job is like Special Ops...I get to do all of the interesting projects nobody else has time for.

Band is easy.  I walk in the room and I know what to do.  I can teach the instruments, I can sing the parts, I can tap the rhythms, I can march the drill and I can clean the petrified food out of the hidden corners of the band hall all while taking roll and telling someone to use more air and raising my eyebrows at the tuba player doing a funny little dance in the back of the room.

But the admin job will stretch me.  I will have to get good at things that aren't currently second nature.  I will have to learn skills I don't currently possess.  But I am not coming in unprepared.  I will be tapping into my natural love of organization, my adamant need for near-perfection excellence and the social leadership skills (yes, I said social and leadership in the same sentence) that I learned over my last two years in missions.

And I am excited.

This is me, the whole thing.  The teaching, the music, the organization, the administration and the joy of knowing I am using my gifts in two completely different areas I am capable in.  This is a job I could have never dreamed up for myself.  It's a job in which I have been placed for this moment of time.

I'm so glad I said yes to being "more than just".