Michael Steffen

Lessons From Church: Being Content With Your Life Now

"I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whther living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:12-13 (NIV)

I recently started going to a church group for 22-26 year olds called The Finding at Bel Air Presbyterian Church. Currently, they're doing a lecture series entitled "What I Wish I Knew in My 20s Now That I'm In My 40s". This week's talk was based on the above verse, and I wanted to blog about it because I found it particularly poignant for myself, a grad student with one year to go.

The gist of the talk was that it's easy at our age to look ahead and say (well, I'll paraphrase it in terms of our department): "Someday when I have that great job as a game designer at EA, the six-figure salary, a wife, etc. then I'll be content." But, the speaker pointed out, if we're not content now, we won't be content then either. It's good to look ahead, but we need to get all we can out of whatever our current position is in life.

So, especially for all you new IM grads, take full advantage of everything USC, the Cinema School, and the IM department have to offer while you're here.