"This is Where I Belong"

Tomorrow I begin year 14 at BYU. I still remember my first day at BYU, walking across campus to the Brewster building to get keys to my office, my stomach filled with butterflies. I wondered what in the world I had gotten myself into.  I have continued to wonder for many years.

End of first year at BYU with my mentor and friend

 When I decided to pursue a PhD, BYU was not on my radar screen.  I longed to leave the state and have a grand adventure. And then BYU  came calling. When you talk to new faculty members about how they came to join the ranks at BYU, many will tell a magnificent faith promoting event. Or some will say they were here as a student and always wanted to come back. For me, neither applied. It took a lot of prayer before I decided that I should accept the offer. I can't tell you why I did it, other than it felt like the right thing to do.

I continued to been filled with wanderlust. I spent a year in ATL, on sabbatical, and loved it. It renewed my desire for another adventure. But here I stayed.

Several years ago I saw this wall hanging as part of kitchen photo spread in a magazine (probably Southern Living-- that's the only magazine I read). So when I saw it on a trip to the East coast, I had to buy it. I toted it with me for 10 days of a bus tour.

Tonight I found it sitting beside my bookcase, collecting dust. I didn't feel like this is where I belonged so it never went on my wall for more than a few months, if that.

However, for the first time in 14 years I feel that "This Is Where I Belong." I have been reviewing my old journals. I am reminded of blessings, opportunities, and spiritual experiences. I have a list of about 15 very significant events, none of which would have occurred had I not started and continued at BYU. And most of them have nothing to do with my performance in the classroom.

I know that, as Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, "God is in the details of your life; He does the choreography." I wonder what else He has in store.

Life is good.