We're Not Who We Were

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? “

For some of us, this degree, and this experience is everything we want, but what good would it do to get it, and in the process, lose ourselves? We can find ourselves, by way of self-sacrifice.   

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. 

Thanksgiving Break Blues

There’s this feeling I get at the end of every break, and I don’t think I’m the only one who feels it.

The dreaded last night of break rolls around and I’m sitting in my room dreading going back.

Dreading going back to a place I love. My home, with all my friends, and my church. It doesn’t make sense. I become overwhelmed by all the work I put off during my break, that I now have to actually begin.  I feel lonely. I get scared, thinking, “What if everyone forgets to love me when I go back?”

I can’t quite place my finger on the exact reason why all of this hits me on that night before I go, back, but I know it happens almost every single break. The Thanksgiving/Christmas/Summer break blues.

People around us let us down all the time. We are always worried that we won’t be enough and the people around us will forget to love us. Their past actions don’t give any reason to show that this would be the case, but the fear still creeps into our mind. 

It’s because people are imperfect. They disappoint us, because we are all disappointing. We weren’t meant to live in this world and it’s apparent. I see facebook posts on the daily about people being frustrated and let down by the people surrounding them.  

Isn’t it obvious? 

Our hearts long for something better, because that’s how our Creator created us. We are broken. This world is broken. 

And that’s why Jesus came and was murdered for us. That’s why he rose again: to bring us life.

When you start to feel yourself putting your worth in what others think of you, and you fear that you will never be enough, remember that in Christ, we are heirs to the throne; his children.

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. ²⁴ So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Galatians 3:23-29

What better news could ever exist? We do not have to work to earn anything from our Father.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”  

Psalm 73:26

He is all we need.

So as we walk into these next couple of weeks I want to encourage you. Friends let us down. We let them down too. It’s because we’re broken, so hopelessly broken. But thank the Lord above there was sent a remedy.

Today during chapel we were told to break up into groups to pray with those around us. I was sitting next to my friend, and as Kurt began to pray, we put our arms around each other.  The prayer was not particularly long, but it was not short either. I found myself at points thinking, “She will probably let go of my shoulder at some point because her arm will get tired.” 

But you know what? She didn’t.

Our friends don’t forget to love us, and that’s why they are our friends. Remember that the good outweighs the bad, and that’s why we love the people around us.  More than that, our Savior never takes his arm off our shoulder, and even better: the Spirit of the living God is inside every believer.

Now that we’re back and the Thanksgiving break blues begin to wear off, I want to encourage you to look for the good and remind yourself who is your portion: The one who could never forget to love you.