June 1 was the 10 year anniversary of my high school graduation. When I realized this, I took some time to contemplate where life has led me over the last decade. As I considered where I am verses where I thought I’d be, I came to the conclusion that these last 10 years can be summed up in one word: GRACE.
I had hopes and dreams. I had direction and I had the ambition to get there. I knew what I wanted do and who I wanted to be. I was on my way. But God, in His GRACE, ruined everything that I had planned. Slowly, one by one, I saw my dreams dashed, my hopes shattered, my direction confused, and my ambition tempered. You see, God had a plan for my life and my hopes, dreams, and direction were getting in the way. Rather than allowing me to continue down the road of selfishness and self-sufficiency, God rescued me from a vain and meaningless life; a life lived outside of His will. That’s GRACE. I could have never seen the perfect plan that God had for me until he took away all hope of the plan I had made for myself. It wasn’t easy, because when you’re going through tough times, it’s difficult to see anything else; especially God. Yet it was God who carried me through those years and brought me out on the other end. I couldn’t see it at the time, but I can look back and see God’s hand working miraculously in my life. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.
So to the class of 2010, I can offer this advice: Be careful with the plans you make; the tighter you hold onto your own agenda, the more it will hurt when God changes your direction. Work hard, but live each day with an open mind. In 10 years, who knows where you'll be? I sure didn't, but I couldn't have dreamed of a better life!
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