“The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.”
- Madeleine L'Engle
For a student, Spring presents a paradox of sorts. Just as nature is teeming with new life and promise, the year (the one that matters most to us students, the academic) comes to an end. Granted, this is usually a much anticipated end, and certainly one which comes in the fullness of its time. This end also marks new beginnings. Always it marks the beginning of summer, and for those graduating, the beginning of an entirely new phase of life. It is just the way of the world that "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." (Words which apparently belong to Seneca, as much as to Semisonic.) But no matter how exciting these beginnings are, there is a certain sadness that still comes with the ending. I have to say goodbye to seniors I know who are graduating, and I don't know when I will see them next. Moreover, this is all a reminder that I have just one short year left myself. At the end of that time, I will have to say many goodbyes, and to part ways with many people. We were travellers together for awhile, and now we are to be no longer. Our paths may cross again; they likely will, but it won't every really be the same. Time gradually takes is toll, leveling out emotions, weakening our bonds. Close friendships fade. Weeks become months become years. The tragedy is not the parting; it's that eventually the parting no longer seems tragic.
Yet, if there is one thing I have learned over the past few months, it's that life is constantly going to surprise you. It's hard to describe, but I didn't have the Spring semester I expected to have and if I had planned it out beforehand, it wouldn't have looked anything like it did. But the semester was better than I ever could have imagined. I was surprised by the friendships that blossomed, the moments I shared with others, and the things I learned. God showers his blessings in ways which are so unexpected. I can honestly say that it just keeps getting better and better. Each year I live seems better than the last. I remember when I was fourteen, thinking that that was the perfect age to be. Then, I felt that way about age fifteen, and then about age sixteen, and so on and so forth. At every stage, it's hard to imaging life getting any better but I am always surprised. So now, more than being sad that the year is over, I am excited to see what the next year has in store. The key, I think, is not to grasp to what you have or to what you think you want, but to let the gifts of the year come to you. After I graduate, as sad as it will be to leave certain places and people behind, I take comfort in knowing that there will be new people that God will put into my life, ones that I can't even imagine now, but who will become as much a part of my life as people I am closest to now. As I grow, I will continue to learn more things, about life, about myself, about my faith. I can't even imagine now what that will be like. I think this is what L'Engle is getting at with the quote above. Each year adds to the richness of the one before it. I don't lose the friends, the experiences, the lessons I learned before. They all have become a part of me, made me who I am, and continue with me as I become who I am to be.
Yes, the end of the year is sad. That's the way of life. Even our most joyful moments are tinged with sadness, that sadness which knows that all things on this earth are passing away. But if we approach life with arms wide open, ready to receive blessing, I am convinced that the best in life is yet to come.
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