I recently graduated from Anderson University in Indiana (recently = yesterday… haha) and it honestly doesn’t feel much different today than it did a week ago.
I find myself wanting instant changes in my life now that I am an alumna of this fine university, but I don’t think that’s how it works. Don’t get me wrong, I am super glad to be done with the work that is involved in college, and I will be sad once it sets in that I am not a college kid anymore, but it just doesn’t feel different.
Sometimes people find themselves wishing that things were done before they should be just so it can be over. Things like, “I just can’t wait until summer” or “This semester sucks. I can’t wait for it to be over” or “Why can’t I just be done with this project already?” I definitely had those thoughts throughout this semester, but I tried my hardest to live in the moment and appreciate the circumstances for what they were. I learned that huge projects, while they may not be fun, can actually teach you to appreciate the outcome later. We all want instant gratification, but sometimes it can’t be that way. I learned that the time that you have, in college specifically, should never be wished away. As soon as it’s done, you can’t go back. You will never have the same set of people or the same classes or the same late-night IHOP runs that you had before. It would be different.
God puts us in places when he needs us there, for as long as he needs us there. I spent 5 years in college, unlike most of my friends. I didn’t love it when they all graduated a year before me, but I figured that there was a purpose in that (and I also wanted to do 2 or 3 majors instead of just 1 haha). I met new people, took some of my favorite classes, and ended my college career right where I want to be. I needed some more time to grow as a person and experience a little more college life before graduating and moving on. God knew what he was doing.
God also gives us opportunities to express ourselves. Through the last few weeks since I got accepted to the World Race, I have been able to have some really good conversations with family, friends, pastors… and those wouldn’t have happened a year ago. God gave me the last year to grow and solidify my wants and beliefs for the future. I would not have sought out those kinds of conversations a year ago. He gave me opportunities in and out of school to better myself and work on expressing myself better so that I could have conversations that are good or funny or difficult or serious… etc.
God pushes us towards where He wants us to go, and it is our job to take a leap and do it. I am ready to go into the next things in life and see where god pushes me. I am ready to be out of my comfort zone and see things in new ways.
My goal for the next year and a half (and forever, really) is to never wish the time away – never wish something is over. My goal is to take things in God’s timing, trust that there is a lesson in the bad times and make sure that I take in as much joy as I can in the good times. I want to look for the beauty in every situation, not just some. I want to see the world in different ways and learn to appreciate everything. It’s time to see the world in the way God wants me to see it. I’ll trust Him and follow Him the best I can.
Favorite quote of the moment, “He said, ‘Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.'” – Roald Dahl
