I'm at home now, visiting with old friends who have also joined the college graduate club and I'm Skyping and texting with fresh grads from APU. I would say it's strange that we're all starting our lives right now, but my cousin Casey freshened my take on that. We've been living our lives already--for the past 20-something years. Now we're just moving to a new phase. Because who digs monotony anyway? Not this girl, that's for sure.
But I'm thinking now about what that next phase looks like for me. I only have the next year figured out. Then what? But that's my pride showing right there. You see, I had a friend recently tell me that she'd go back to church when she changed a certain detail of her life. That got me thinking. So many of us do that! We mess up, know it's wrong and then decide that starting on [enter your date here], I'll change and stop that bad habit.
But who are we to say that we'll be given that chance later? For my friends and family of faith reading this, who's to say that Christ won't come back before we decide to turn our lives around, fix that flaw?
And for everyone, how can we be absolutely positive that we'll even wake up tomorrow? I know some of you reading this also cared about my friend, Kassie Lee. For those who don't, Kassie left us just over a year ago due to a pulmonary embolism--just a week after her graduation from Fresno State. Young, healthy, optimistic, just like I am.
If you're looking for a good read, buy this book. It's written by a Jewish New Yorker (though he mentions several times that he's about as Jewish as the Olive Garden is Italian) who decides to live biblically as literally as possible for 12 months. I love how an agnostic author could get my brain cranking so much.
One little segment was titled, "Do not boast about tomorrow...Proverbs 27:1" The author mentions James 4:13-15:
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
So, God willing, I'll wake up tomorrow and check off my to-do list from top to bottom. God willing, I will finish packing by Friday night. God willing, I'll hop on a plane in SFO next week and land safely in Vienna. God willing, this will be a fantastic year, and God willing, He'll guide me just as smoothly into the next phase of life as He did this one.
Grace and peace,
Hilary
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