Tags
Class of 2014, Faith, God, Graduation, Guidance, Moving On, Never Give Up
Photo taken from here.*
Until the day that I am asked to give a commencement address at a university, I shall continue to give many through this blog. To encourage you that the end is not the end. That humanity working with God can accomplish great and impossible things. And that ultimately, your decisions belong to you and those decisions can bring about great things.
So, here I go:
Congratulations to the class of 2014! Upon leaving this ceremony today, a new life and new season will begin. You will find yourselves making decisions. Those decisions will lead to risks. The deciding factor in those decisions will be based on your goal. You can claim and aim for many goals, but in the end those decisions will make you choose between various goals until ultimately one wins out. If even it should win out. Sometimes those goals will change and other times they may be met, paving the way for new goals. But it will be your decisions that will get you there and the risks you’re willing to endure. Will you follow your dreams or those others have for you? Will you sacrifice materials in order to save for those immaterial? As you get older, will marriage and children take precedence over your existing dreams? Will home ownership become that ultimate goal?
But as mentioned, there are risks with every decision. If you choose to wait on marriage, will it be too late to find the one? You might question your ultimate destiny and whether it was actually worth it. Will you risk everything in order to follow Jesus and believe the promises He has for you? You might question your goal, but ultimately a goal will win out, whether it was the original goal you set out to achieve or not.
There is nothing in between you and your goals except you. With God, all things are possible. And if you seek Him and His will for your life, you shall not fail if you keep the course. In life, it’s not always the destination, but the journey. And keeping the course is a part of that. Keeping the course is what builds your faith and character. It’s through the course that you discover your true potential. And in the end, as you look back upon your journey as you reach your first major benchmark, as you write in your memoir of your memories, you begin to see the tears, the blood, and the sweat that brought you to triumph. And as I’ve noted before, you cannot get to your destination without first going through the ruts in the road in order to get there. You aren’t prepared for the next step without first taking the first step. And even in times of waiting, just know that God is not. That He is craftfully working all things together for your good and determining your steps, without you even being conscious of it. Keep strong, be of good cheer, and never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever give up.
*The websites in which these photos are found are not necessarily an endorsement from me, but mostly those photos found during a routine image search.