Within Four Walls
“Wow, this dorm sure is a lot nicer than mine in college!”
This phrase echoes through the halls of CCU during move-in, preview tours, and basically any other time parents are on campus.
A living room? A full kitchen? Washers and dryers in the apartment? How spoiled!
The truth is, we do have it a lot better than our parents did. We don’t have to wear shower shoes to avoid foot fungus, make ramen in an all-dorm microwave, or trek to a communal bathroom in the middle of the night. Does that make us spoiled?
We live on campus for almost nine months out of the year. We sleep, eat, study, create, and connect within the walls of our apartments. This truly is our home for four years. If anything, our childhood houses become more like vacation homes that we visit in the off-season. We probably wouldn’t sign a four-year lease for an apartment with communal bathrooms and shoebox-sized rooms, would we?
I’m not in any hurry to get off campus. I know that this is likely the nicest, safest, and newest apartment I’ll ever live in.
When my brother moved into his dorm in Missouri, he put a rug over the asbestos tiles, ignored the painted-over hair in the closet, and tried to forget about the half-eaten chicken wing on the floor of the communal bathroom. How thankful we should be to know that’s not our reality!
How can we show our thankfulness for our housing? First and foremost, we should take care of our apartments and buildings. These rooms are nice because they’re kept nice. We should thank the maintenance and cleaning teams for all their hard, and often unnoticed, work. I think another way to show thankfulness is to open our doors. Having visitors, be that friends or family, and opening our spaces to them is an easy way to utilize our apartments in a service-minded way. We can create a safe space for others just by hosting dinner, a game night, or a Bible study.
So, are we spoiled to live here? That’s a question of perspective. If we take our amenities for granted, then yes. But, if we recognize how God has provided a safe place for us to live, learn, and grow with Him, then that’s a cause for praise.
