It literally feels like we just threw our graduation caps in the air and marched across that graduation stage strutting our proudest Gator chomps. Now, diplomas have arrived in the mail. Speciality frames are being ordered. New jobs are being started. Moves are taking place. And oh, friends are getting married.
I’ll never forget how I met my friend, Alex. He sat in front of me in Dr. Sutherland’s Advertising Strategy class during our Spring semester of junior year. We met through a mutual friend and struck up a conversation. Since that day, I would consider Alex as one of my closest friends in college. We formed a little tribe of friends and made countless trips to Pascal’s Coffeehouse, explored the University of Florida’s campus, dreamed about what our lives would look like after we graduated, took tons of photos on World Water Day for charity: water, and survived our capstone course—Campaigns.
Fast-forward almost three months after graduation. I’m sitting five rows back in a church just outside Tallahassee, looking at my friend’s eyes moisten as he sees his beautiful bride walk down the aisle toward him. They can’t take their eyes off each other…literally. Glowing, both Alex and Shannon made a vow to each other and to God, leaning in to this next chapter of their lives.
Time stopped for me in the middle of their ceremony. It wasn’t that I hadn’t ever been to a wedding before or that I was just mesmerized by the beautiful decor. The seasons of life just sort of hit me square in the face. A close friend of mine just got married. Three months ago we graduated from college. We’re starting careers. We’re moving into new territory, uncharted waters.
The funny thing is, Alex isn’t my first friend to get married. I’ve gone to friends’ weddings, celebrated their special moments & will be wishing some “Happy Anniversary” soon! But Alex’s wedding made me stop and think about life and seasons and chapters in a way I hadn’t before. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve celebrate monumental life moments with Alex before that made me sense this seasonal shift in life; but whatever the case may be, I was reminded of how beautiful this thing we call life really is and just how fast it’s moving.
I want to slow down. Sometimes, I feel like middle school was yesterday, and I was staring wide-eyed at the college girls I adored, wondering what life would be like when I was in their shoes. Now I am. And it’s going so fast. In the midst of changing seasons, I want to hang on to one truth with all that I am: I am known and loved by God.
As I embrace the Creator of my soul, I want to bask in His unending love, His perfect faithfulness. It’s so comforting to know that He will never leave me or forsake me (Deuteronomy 31v6). He sees me where I am today and He sees where He is leading me tomorrow. Here’s the cool part: when I trust God with my tomorrows, I can slow down and give today all I’ve got…every fiber of my being, every morsel of my love, every inch of my creativity, every shred of forgiveness…every, single breath.
Life is going to keep moving. And from what I hear, it only gets faster. I can’t pause, rewind, or stop it. But I can live it fully…and as I face a brand new season, this land I’ve never been before, I’m going to trust what tomorrow looks like to the God who made it in the first place.