Spring 2008 - finished. 20 credits - finished. Religious Studies and Architecture majors - finished. Senior year - finished. A season of life.. finished.
This morning, at about maybe 8 A.M., one of my best friends came into my room to say good bye. He was headed off to the airport. In my unconsciousness, I sat upright, gave him a hug, and fell almost instantly back to sleep. Only one of the many blessings of this year - gone, just like that. Last night, I told him that it would be okay, that I would be back to visit, that I would be in touch. But it won't be the same, he said.
It's really beginning to hit home.
Never had I thought that leaving college behind would be so difficult. For the bulk of my college career, my focus had always been on getting out, moving forward onto the "real world", and doing something with my life. Energy was expended over a rocky relationship, my studies, and on trying to make sense out of what God would have me do beyond. It was not on the present, on learning to care for people. If anything, this was something I ran away from, whether because of fellowship tensions or simply because I was so consumed with myself.
If there's a theme that has resonated throughout this last year, it would be redemption. Redemption bore the fruit of long-suffering; it provided reason for sacrifices made; it revealed the faithfulness of God. This year was indeed a year of being redeemed. It was a year of all things made new. Of coming full circle from when I started almost four years ago. It was the only way to end.
And yet, redemption is but the beginning.
This morning, at about maybe 8 A.M., one of my best friends came into my room to say good bye. He was headed off to the airport. In my unconsciousness, I sat upright, gave him a hug, and fell almost instantly back to sleep. Only one of the many blessings of this year - gone, just like that. Last night, I told him that it would be okay, that I would be back to visit, that I would be in touch. But it won't be the same, he said.
It's really beginning to hit home.
Never had I thought that leaving college behind would be so difficult. For the bulk of my college career, my focus had always been on getting out, moving forward onto the "real world", and doing something with my life. Energy was expended over a rocky relationship, my studies, and on trying to make sense out of what God would have me do beyond. It was not on the present, on learning to care for people. If anything, this was something I ran away from, whether because of fellowship tensions or simply because I was so consumed with myself.
If there's a theme that has resonated throughout this last year, it would be redemption. Redemption bore the fruit of long-suffering; it provided reason for sacrifices made; it revealed the faithfulness of God. This year was indeed a year of being redeemed. It was a year of all things made new. Of coming full circle from when I started almost four years ago. It was the only way to end.
And yet, redemption is but the beginning.
