When I was 19 I moved out of my house and into a house that my mum owned.

I felt like I had finally grown up- I had my own house and could play by my own rules. I was an adult- Only I wasn't. My mum owned the house, and at the weekends she picked up my washing and dropped off groceries.

In Northern Ireland for students this is the norm, we move away for university and feel like we are all grown up but then we come home to our families, our churches and our parent's washing machines at the weekends. We can so often put off growing up. 

In the Bible, Paul writes about how we should 'set aside childish ways'  (1 Corinthians 13:11) and as Christian students so often we only partially do this at university.

What would it look like if you decided to fully grow up when you go to university? If you decided to live up in the city for the term year. How would it affect you if you were to find your own church, discover your own faith and even do your own washing?

When I was 22 I moved out with a friend of mine. We had to work to pay rent, figure out budgets for shopping and even learn to wash our own clothes. For two people who had lived away from home before in our student days we should have been experts by now. But we had to learn lots for the first time.

University can be a time for growing up, being independent and discovering who you are. Or it can be a time where it looks like you've grown up but you retreat back every weekend. What is it going to be for you?