To the class of 2020

Well, apparently you've made it. It hasn't been the ending you expected--you were unceremoniously told that because of circumstances outside your control, if you were in good standing as of the end of the third 9-weeks, you're considered a graduate. There are a lot of unknowns right now--about prom and graduation and cap & gown pictures--and a lot of things that I'm sure tempt you to feel sorry for yourself.

So now, you have the first choice of your official "adult" life. You can feel sorry for yourself and focus on all the things you might be missing out on, or you can keep moving forward.

I've watched you since middle school (most of you, anyway). In 8th grade, most of you were uncomfortable in your own skin. You were struggling to figure out where you fit in the world of high school, a time of decisions like nothing you'd faced before that. I watched you try on personas like they were hats--class clown? flirt? brainiac? jock? thug?--and was so proud to see you settle into yourselves. It's been amazing to see who you've become as you've grown, and the glimpses of who you will become in the future definitely make me excited to see what tomorrow holds.

But here's the thing--this disappointment you're facing now? It's the first of many. This world can be a rough place. As Dan Rather once said, "A tough lesson in life that one has to learn is that not everybody wishes you well." That's true for the world as a whole. Your future won't be a smooth path laid out in front of you, all the curves clearly marked and well lit. You won't be handed a road map that shows your destination and all the rest stops between here and there.

If you're lucky, you'll be able to see to the next turn. More often than not, though, things will be like the end of this senior year--a sudden road block you didn't deserve or expect, thrown at you when you least expected it. You'll be faced with hard times and hard decisions, but there's a Helen Keller quote that's one of my favorites:

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.

Only through experience of trial and suffering

can the soul be strengthened,

ambition inspired, and success achieved."

Your circumstances don't dictate who you are. Instead, you are defined by how you deal with the circumstances life deals you. I know you, and I know you have the potential to take whatever life throws at you and use it well. So take this curve in stride, and keep moving toward your future.

So here's what I pray the future holds for you:

Fear.
I hope you face something that scares you, something that makes your breath catch and your knees shake. I hope you come face to face with something you know you can't deal with on your own.

"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you,

for My power is made perfect in weakness.'

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,

so that Christ's power may rest on me.

That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses,

in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.

For when I am weak, then I am strong."

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Joy.
I hope you experience true joy, the kind that is deep down in the core of who you are and doesn't depend on what's happening around you. I hope you have the kind of joy that makes you smile in the midst of pain, that lets you face the future with hope even when the present seems hopeless.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peaces as you trust in Him,

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Romans 15:13

 

Tears.
I hope you experience the kind of crying that leaves you breathless, with your stomach hurting and all your tears cried out. I hope you face a sorrow that brings you to your knees, one that breaks your heart and makes you think you won't survive. Because that means you've loved so deeply that that person has become part of you, and that kind of love--despite the risk of hurt--is a wonderful thing.

"The LORD is close to the broken-hearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Psalm 34:18

Dreams.

I hope you see that some of the things you take for granted are actually dreams come true. I hope you achieve great things, like finding and staying close to the people who love you. I hope you have big dreams, too--and I hope there's always at least one that stays just out of reach. I hope it gives you something to work for and strive for, something that always pushes you to try harder and be better.

"Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

I press on toward the goal to win the prize

for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 3:13-14

Faith.

I hope you have the faith of a mustard seed--not small faith, but the kind of faith that is certain that God's plan for your life will be what is best and will come to fruition. That kind of faith is the kind that doesn't worry or stress about the hardships that come. It is the kind of faith that will carry you through the dark times, the times when you feel like you've been buried in the dark and there's no way out. It's the kind of faith that will let you face all the hard times of this life, all those times that will knock you flat on your face.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for

and certain of what we do not see."

Hebrews 11:1

While it's true that not everyone in life wishes you well, I hope you will always remember that I do. I wish you nothing but the best, and I know you can face the hard things (just like you faced math...). You can turn to me no matter what, no matter when. More importantly, though, you can turn to God--no matter what, no matter when.