I graduated from college this weekend. The actual ceremony was much more anticlimactic than I’d expected. We didn’t even toss our hats in the air. While the ceremony itself came and went in less than two hours, I feel like the walk across the stage lasted four years.
The first few steps onto the stage took me back to my freshman year when I walked onto campus, wide-eyed and eager. Like a newborn deer, my legs were shaky as I tried to find firm footing among the crowd of strangers. Eventually, I found myself surrounded by a great group of friends who sometimes felt more familiar to me than the people I’d grown up with. I remember that one time we all drove out to my parents’ house and camped in my backyard because we didn’t feel like going to a campground. Then there were the times we sat and played guitar for hours and hours because homework was non-existent. And of course, there were the many evenings spent playing sand volleyball and making up ridiculous nicknames for each other.
After I heard my name called by the professor on stage, I took the next few steps into the bright stage lights. In those steps I remembered my second year of college, during which time I found myself at a new university, once again surrounded by a lot of strangers – 50,000 of them to be exact. I remember that was the year where I learned not to find my worth in my GPA. I learned about the discipline of fasting and spent so much time in prayer. I remembered that time a group of us went hiking at Zilker Park and then on the way home we blasted the old Mumford CD while driving windows down. I thought, This is a good moment.
With the next steps across stage, I was beginning to hit my stride. I approached the old man who handed me my fake diploma. Those steps transported me back to my third year of college. I suddenly remembered all the memories made with my roommates – the weekend we went camping and jumped the cliffs by the water. We also accidentally found a waterfall while hiking in the early evening. I remembered during finals week when we built a fort in our living room instead of studying. Then there was that time a group of us drove out to Inks Lake at midnight to stargaze and watch the sun rise. I remembered that time my roommates threw me a surprise birthday party and I got a black eye playing Frisbee. There were also so many moments spent in my hammock in the backyard, thinking, dreaming, crying, and just breathing.
As I shook the man’s hand and grabbed the piece of paper, I took my final steps across the stage. Behind me I left a stream of memories from the past three and a half years. The memories swirled in the bright lights and bumped into each other. I’d waded through them to get across the stage, and now they muddled up my mind.
I reached the edge of the stage and prepared to walk down the ramp and back out to my seat. But before I did, I looked back at those memories. I looked back at the people who’ve come into my life in these past few years. I looked back at those experiences, both good and bad, beautiful and ugly – the memoirs that line the walls of my heart and remind me of all that God’s done.
College has been a wonderful, awful, lovely, painful experience for me. I’ve learned and grown so much, both inside and outside the walls of a classroom. I’m so incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be among the small percentage of the world with a college education. The things I’ve learned and the people I’ve met will surely be carried with me in the suitcases of my heart.
But now, college is over. Just like that, it came and went and I’ve walked off the stage.
If there is one lesson that could properly summarize everything I’ve experienced in the past three and a half years, it is this: The Lord is entirely faithful.
Psalm 119:65 (NLT)
I’m not sad that college is over. Yes, I will occasionally miss the college lifestyle that involves minimal commitment and responsibility, the fact that it’s acceptable to stay out until 2 am doing nothing in particular, and I’ll probably also miss the endless supply of free pizza. But honestly, that was starting to get old. Mostly I’m not sad that college is over because I know that greater things are yet to come.
I might seem arrogant saying that college is not the best thing to ever happen to me, but I really believe that’s true. I really believe that the Lord has called me to do and experience bigger, better things. The World Race is just one of those things, but I also don’t believe that will be the greatest thing to ever happen to me either.
College has prepared me for many things, most of which I probably don’t even realize yet. But either way, it’s time for this season to end. The colors are changing and the wind is blowing in something new. A different season of my life is beginning right before my eyes and I couldn’t stop it from happening even if I wanted to.
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