The vast majority of you probably are chilling intellectually at this pivotal time of your lives, but at the risk of raising the specter of academics, I want to offer a word (or two) to the Class of 2009.
Don KirklandThe word is congratulations. With years of study and accomplishment under your belts and diplomas in your hands, you have brought pride and satisfaction to your families and friends as well as to yourselves — and enormous relief to many.
Now, for the “or two” part of this Commentary.
Graduation, like pencil marks on the door facings of homes on which parents keep a record of how tall the children are getting, represents that point in life to which you have grown. It is a defining moment certainly. But it also is the point in life from which you must continue to grow. You still have lessons to learn, instruction to receive and maturity to attain.
I heard of a man who in college learned so much so quickly that he feared the day might come when there was nothing left for him to learn. Clearly, his fears were baseless. You will always be a student in — and of — life. Some lessons will relate to your earthly life and others to eternity. Both have their place and value in the grand scheme of continuing education.
People can, I believe, be divided into the categories of settlers or travelers geographically, intellectually and spiritually. The father of Abraham, Terah, was a settler and never reached the Promised Land toward which he had journeyed for a while. Abraham, on the other hand, proved to be a traveler and made it to Canaan as summoned by God. I encourage you to be a traveler, recognizing that on most of your journey you will — because you must — walk by faith rather than by sight, with simple trust in a loving God who knows where you are going and how to get you there. Know this: God has a plan for your life, though it may differ dramatically from what you have, or had, in mind. Someone has said, with keen insight, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” And this, too: Travelers consistently move out of their “comfort zones.” God neither recognizes nor honors comfort zones. But, as a friend of mine often says to me when the task ahead is especially unappealing, “You’ll just have to work through it.”
Many of life’s lessons will prove to be difficult. You will, from time to time, be enrolled — like it or not — in what many have described as the “School of Hard Knocks.” While there, you will be taught by a professor commonly known as “Hard Experience.”
There are “required” lessons that you will learn sooner or later — but you will learn them. You will discover — if you haven’t already — that life is not always easy and has its share of tribulations, that even the innocent must at times endure unexplained suffering, that life is fragile and uncertain and must be handled with care, that love should be expressed to the living rather than at the graveside.
Know for sure that when life turns sour, when tragedy rocks your world, when setbacks and disappointments disturb your peace of mind and shatter your dreams — at such times, you have the choice of becoming bitter or better. Viktor Frankl, a renowned Austrian psychiatrist who survived a Nazi death camp, said the last of the human freedoms — and one no one can ever take away from us — is how we respond to our circumstances in life.
David Nolte of the Puget Sound Christian College in Edmonds, Wash., has written, “In the greatest sorrow, there is peace; in the deepest darkness, there is a spark of light; in the utmost pain, there is healing; and in the midst of despair, there is hope.”
As you travel — and travel lightly if possible — heed and take courage in the words of the psalmist David, to whom the Lord said, “I will point out the road that you should follow. I will be your teacher and watch over you.”
The Class of 2009 has great potential. Do not waste what God already has invested in you for the benefit of his kingdom. There is an ultimate “graduation” waiting for you in eternity. For now, you can achieve nothing greater than to live for Jesus Christ. You can experience no greater joy than what is yours by doing his will. And there is no greater honor to be received than hearing him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”