If I had written a graduation speech, this is what I would want to say to you.
Welcome to Spring
Commencement 2014. Welcome to the doorstep of your future.
For some of us, this
morning was the beacon of hope in the middle of a long night working on
assignments that seemed endless, and for others today is a taunting reminder of
the uncertainty of our future.
I want to begin by saying:
congratulations. Whatever emotion you are feeling, let’s rest knowing we’ve
reached our goal: we really did it. We’ve
watched our older friends walk this same path before us, and we’ve pondered
where it would take us once our name was called. Maybe you are excited for the
new opportunities that await you outside the walls of this place we now call
home, and maybe you’re terrified that you will never be able to love a place
quite as much as this one; and it is very likely the two emotions are swirled
into one massive sensation stirring in your chest this morning.
And what else could we
possibly expect to feel when the time that has molded us so much, comes to an
end that is both intriguing, yet uncertain for many of us. Looking back on the late nights spent studying
at McDonald’s, and the mission trips, chapel services, and class discussions
that just wouldn’t let us go back to being who we were.
Here, at SBU, we
experienced education and academics, but we also lived. We let long nights turn
into early mornings, sometimes because we might have put off the assignment too
long, and other times, because the conversation kept flowing. Here we let tears turn into laughter and back
into tears again; and found the people that would transition with us
effortlessly through both. We had our hearts broken, then molded, filling them
with people all along the way. We filled them with friends who became family, to
walk alongside us through bad grades, and bad days. We filled them with some of the most
intelligent and caring individuals on the planet, that we got to call
professors and advisors.
Here we became whole. We
grew up. We received a wonderful and well-rounded education, but we also became
different people. Most likely the guy or
girl who walked across this forum as a freshman, sits here as a man or woman
completely changed after four years at SBU. This experience will undoubtedly
usher us into the rest of our lives.
The question we have to ask
is: how?
Jesus Christ, the Savior
and author of our Faith said in Luke 9:23, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead…Follow
me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the
way, my way, to finding yourself, your true
self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real
you? “
As we walk into the next
phase of our life we can boldly step forward and say, “What I do today can
leave someone better than I found them.” We have been taught business models, math
equations, how to counsel people, how to fix things, and not only is it
possible to use all of those things to the glory of God; it is our calling as
Christians.
As we look back on the
memories and the knowledge we’ve received it is colored by the people who helped
us get where we are, academically, emotionally, and spiritually. We have to assume that without the people
that we met, and the professors we learned from, we wouldn’t be here today. How
then can we go from this place, into the world and not want to become that
person for someone else?
As we enter this new stage
of life, we will encounter all sorts of people, and we must remember that each
person has value because they were created in the image of God.
So today, I congratulate
you for making it here. For achieving something that at times seemed out of sight
and out of reach. It has been a pleasure and a great delight to know you. To
whom much is given, much is required. So
in light of that I charge you on this graduation day: to love God, to love
others, and to find a way to live your life making each person’s world a little
better each day. After all, I cannot
picture a better group of people and ones more adequately equipped than those
before whom I stand today.
Thank
you.
