Congrats to our Grads!

Consider it a pure joy, my friends, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance (James 1:2-3).

As we approach the end of yet another school year, I can’t help but imagine how much joy and sorrow the Class of 2011 must be experiencing. On the one hand, they are approaching their final exams, and that is always quite stressful – a do or die time; and then there is the question for many of what to do this summer and for the rest of their lives.

I look back over the decades that separate me from the academic and vocational graduations I have gone through and I know there is no way I could have imagined or predicted the path my life would have taken, the places I would have seen, the people I would have met, the things I would have accomplished, and the areas in which I would have been a dismal failure.

It would be easy to get caught up in the misery of those failures, those places where we’ve hurt others by things done and left undone, said and left unsaid; it would be equally easy to ignore those painful memories, to gloss over them as matters we can do nothing about, so “move on.”

Neither option is good, however. It does no good to get bogged down by things we cannot change; but neither does it behoove us to bury them, for a burial does not lay to rest as much as it plants a mine. We never know when someone will step on it (or in it) and the damage that will be done when it explodes.

As Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” He was on trial for teaching that people should challenge the accepted beliefs and ideas of the age. He was not promoting anarchy, but rather was advocating for the careful, methodical, and thoughtful examination of evidence – testing one’s beliefs, as it were.

His advice for society is also good for the individual: Put life to the test, not to break it, but to prove it. That is the purpose of testing, you know; not to break things, but to prove them. Students and pupils are given tests to help determine whether or not they have mastered the material they’ve been given.

It isn’t the material that is important (we’ve always got Wikipedia to fall back on, don’t we?). There is no shortage of material. What is important is learning what to do with the material we have.

When we fail, it is more important than ever to face it honestly and ask ourselves what happened so that we can figure out what we might need to do differently in order to prevent repeating that lack of success. We don’t need to hide our shame, for there is nothing shameful about falling down. The shame is found in doing the same thing over and expecting different results (a colloquial definition of insanity).

Tests are simply challenges we face which help us determine where in life we need to grow, change, or improve.

If I was to offer this year’s graduating class any advice (and admittedly, they’ve not asked) I would simply suggest that they not take themselves so seriously that they fail to enjoy the life they’ve got.

Work hard, but don’t be obsessive about it. Figure out what you’re doing right, and stick with it. Figure out what’s not working for you, and let it go. Listen to your friends, but listen to yourself as well; go with your gut. On those rare occasions when your gut’s wrong, admit the mistake, fix the damage, make amends, and move on.

If and when you feel trapped by life or life’s circumstances, pray for freedom – by which I mean freedom from fear. Experiment carefully, experience freely, and look for the dream that might well be eluding you. It is there; maybe you need to listen for it, more than look for it, but that’s OK. Use all of the senses God gave you – including Common Sense.

Life is full of tests, but there’s nothing to fear, for God is with us every step of the way in this, our world. Congratulations Class of 2011; test your footing, and Go in Peace!