life as clay : graduation day

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12: 1-2a

I am ancient. I work in a university and the average age here is about 20-21. I spend my days among flawless faces, messy buns and lululemon leggings. Here, the eyes are bright and the minds crammed with all the hopes and ideas world changers can dream up. It can be equal parts depressing and inspiring, if you know what I mean.

There are friends and first dates, Netflix and pizza orders, last minute assignments, group presentations. There are lessons to be learned and they are not all in the classroom. Life here is a pressure cooker of sorts, where the preparing, learning, becoming, and all the beautiful mess that comes with it can bring transformation for those who let it. All eyes are on the future and believe me, students are in a hurry to get there. For those of us privileged to get a front row seat to the race, it is both a joy and an honor.

Every year, however, I speak with graduating students who have a hard time dealing with the idea of life after university. They have grown comfortable here. They’ve built strong relationships and identify with this role and the work that comes with it. There is safety in the familiar. This is what they know, and it sure feels like home.

I wonder in those moments. I have thought about it often since. How can it be that graduation comes as a surprise for any student? How can one be unprepared for the moment, reluctant to move on, surprised by the celebration when it comes? Isn’t it the very destination they have been running toward, the goal in all of this? It seems a little like driving all the way to Disney World and then deciding to stay in the comfy car rather than check out Splash Mountain.

But in the wondering, in the pause, I realize I am very much the same.

It is far too easy to feel at home. Comfortable. Content with my role here, my work, my family, often distracted by the beautiful mess of life. I am not here for the car ride, nice as it may be. I am heading to a city whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 11:10). Far too many days, however, I take my eyes off the finish line and stumble in the race because I am too busy looking left and right rather than fixing my eyes on Jesus. It is the hard things of life that have me coming back to Him again and again. Strange as it may sound, I am thankful for it. The waiting, the grieving, the hoping, and the brokenness that comes with it reminds me that this world is not my home.

“But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.” Phil 3:20-21

Graduation day is coming. And I am going to be there for the celebration.

My hope and confidence is in Christ. Unlike obtaining a university degree, my standing is not measured by my grade point average and I don’t have to work for credits. My way has been bought by the blood of Jesus, a free gift of his grace. My life is lived in response to this. Today in this pressure cooker of life, I choose to focus on Him, to be surrendered to the process of transformation wherever it leads, and to love well. This is how to embrace truly abundant living, here and now.

I am reminded, once again, to hold loosely the things of this world, to place my hope in eternal things, to invest in people, and to use my testimony (however unglamorous that story may read) to bring glory to God. This is the road that leads to life (Matt. 7:14).

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:1