Reflections of a Graduate

It's that time of year again: the time when students across the country prepare to step into a new season of life with a new degree under the belts. Some of them will continue on to more school, and some of them won’t. Some of them have jobs lined up and five-year plans in action, while some of them are still trying to figure out a next step to take. Some are excited, some are scared, some are indifferent, but one thing is true for all of them: no matter how prepared they are or how well they’ve laid their plans, they don’t know what this next phase of life is going to bring them.

It's hard to believe that a year ago I was in the same place as many of these students. Excited, nervous, and uncertain, I walked across the stage and took my little piece of paper and left behind the scholastic environment for the foreseeable future. I had spent the better part of 18 years in some form of school, and I felt comfortable there—I knew what to expect, what to do, how to thrive in academics. And as I walked away from it, I remember thinking, “What now?”

I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t have a clue what would happen in my life after graduation. While most of my friends had jobs lined up or other plans in the works, I was still trying to get an interview from any of the number of places I’d applied. I had no way of knowing on that day in May that it would be more than two months before I received an interview, and even longer before I was able to get part-time work.

I don’t say these things to discourage graduates or to be cynical about my own experience. On the contrary, I'm grateful for every bump and stumble in the road since I graduated because all of them have brought me to where I am. Over the past 12 months I have waited, traveled, moved, been rejected, stumbled, and failed more times than I can count. Yet in every one of those situations God has affirmed over and over that He can be trusted with my life & livelihood. And I know that this journey is just getting started.

My hope and prayer for the graduate reading this is that you're able to step into this next season of your life with a little less fear and a little more anticipation for what God can do with your life. And for the rest of us, regardless of what season or stage we may find ourselves in, may we understand that life isn't just defined by the milestone moments—graduations, weddings, first jobs, etc.—but also by all the little moments in between.