Be Here Now (Part Two) + Finishing Well.

December always gets me thinking about the end of things. The end of a year, usually the end of a semester because I've always been in school (but not this year 🙌🏼), and now... the end of an internship.

I go home in ten days, and I'm eager and excited about it. Not because I don't like Montréal, but because with the hustle and bustle of Christmas coming up, and friends of mine from here are already going home for Christmas, I feel lonely... like, let's just cue In the Bleak Midwinter because that's kinda how I'm feelin.

source: Roman Kraft; unsplash.com

But at the same time, I'm trying my best to find ways the be present. Not like a Christmas present though (baHAha, I'm hilarious).

In the final semester of my undergrad aka earlier on in 2018, I put up a blog post titled "Be Here Now" and while my life situation now is different than it was then, there are still some similarities, I suppose.


At the beginning of 2018 I wrote,

"There's something that I realized when I woke up this morning: 

I'm spending so much time being emotional about graduating and being afraid of the the future that I'm not enjoying where I am right now.  

And where am I right now? 

I'm in my very last semester of post-secondary education. I'm surrounded by friends whom I love deeply. I'm immersed in a Christian community each and every day. I'm in an internship that is giving me lots of practical experience and preparing me for a life of ministry."

Let's revamp that post to be applicable for my current situation...


I'm spending so much time being eager to go home and being excited to celebrate Christmas that I'm not enjoying whee I am right now.

And where am I right now?

I'm in my very last ten days of a post-secondary internship. I'm in a new city, surrounded by good friends whom I met three months ago and have grown to love. I'm immersed in a non-Christian province, but surrounded by Église 21/Church 21 Christian community each and every day. I'm in an internship that is giving me lots of practical experience and preparing me for a life of ministry.


That's a pretty decent revamp-ing of the situation, wouldn't ya say? But I'm still figuring out what exactly it looks like to "finish well". That whole process was a lot more straightforward in Bible college because I had practical things required of me. I had to do my graduation recital, write final exams, and then I ended it all off by walking across the stage and receiving my Bachelor's degree.

Hugging my professor and mentor
after being hooded at graduation.

But this internship is a different situation, because even though there's an end, there's also not an end at the same time. Because once I leave, everything here in Montréal - at Église 21 - will continue. Although I suppose things are still continuing at my Bible college too. And people whom I wish to still be with, I won't be. And that was also the same at Bible college.

Okay, so maybe these two endings aren't quite as different as I initially thought they were.

Because all endings are endings. But at the same time, every ending is a new beginning.

I took to my Instagram story to ask people for advice on finishing well, and here are the results I got:

1. List all you have done and been a part of, and ensure you haven't missed an opportunity.
2. Write thank you/goodbye/appreciation cards or letters. Do everything with excellence.
3. Stay involved in meetings, conversations, etc.
4. Take time to process what's happening.
5. Don't slack off at the end. Work harder!
6. Take breaks, think about how much you've achieved; and use that as fuel to push through.
7. Write letters to those who have helped/impacted you.
8. Send thank you notes to the people that were specifically involved in that chapter of your life.