ONE MORE YEAR

Springtime, birds, flowers, green grass and GRADUATION! Not for all of you—I realize, some of you have ONE MORE YEAR. (Take heart—it is only 365 days, not thousands as it may seem right now.) Others of you may be several years from your graduation and still others have to look behind you to see your last graduation. But, for a good number of our young people, graduation is a reality this year. I would like to congratulate you for completing the studies you’ve dedicated yourself to. Now a chapter of your life is closing and another one will soon be opening. What does the coming chapter hold? It is a story that you get to write. There will be twists and turns, sometimes on every page, and these unexpected things will make it necessary for you to make some tough decisions. The most important part of the story is at the close of the coming chapter. Will you be able to look back and know that you’ve been faithful to God? Will you have used the learning from the previous chapter to propel you deeper into your walk with the Lord and service to the Church where and how He wants?

It is likely that you’ve been told over and over again that you need to be your own person and make your own decisions. "Follow your heart," the world tells you, "and make up your own mind—be what you want to be." I’d like to offer some alternative counsel to you: seek the Lord and fulfill His will for your life. Don’t follow your heart but give your heart, with its desires and plans, to the One who has given all of Himself to you. Don’t make up your own mind but let every thought be brought into the obedience of Christ (See 2 Corinthians 10:5.). God has a great plan for you, and He wants to help you write the coming chapter and every chapter beyond, but you must allow Him to. For some of you, allowing God to write the next chapter may mean that a drastic turn is made from where you thought you were going. That’s okay, because He’ll be with you all along the way if you’ll surrender to Him. God bless and lead you in the decisions you must make. Let me close with some wise counsel from Solomon regarding the choices that we make in life, "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh…" (Eccl. 11:9, 10).