When the clock strikes Midnight on January 1, 2021, all of us are going to feel like the class of 2020. Collectively, we will feel like we survived the most widespread trial of our time—with all the politics and conspiracies that went with it. And, if we’re in a better place (Lord, we pray), we will feel like we’re graduating from one of the most challenging years of our lives.
But right now, in May, academically speaking, the real Class of 2020 deserves their due.
As many of you know by now, I was a youth pastor for over seven years, and do you know what? My last class is graduating this year. Without pomp and circumstance, caps, gowns, or fan fare—my former junior high students have finished college.
After studying so hard, making plans for post graduation, and even landing jobs. These former students of mine are held up at home, back with their parents. Their lives are on hold. And unlike the rest of us who are feeling restless to get back to “real life,” they’re waiting for the lives they’ve worked so hard for, to begin.
This past weekend, in addition to scrolling through photo’s of people’s moms on social media, I saw photo’s of my student’s faces on TV screens. Instead of graduating with their classmates in an open field or large auditorium, they watched their graduation ceremony from their parent’s couch. A story, they’re undoubtedly going to tell their grandchildren.
Only, as much as the Graduates of 2020 have lost, they are gaining some serious life lessons from this pandemic. Ones, that if they embrace them, will have a lasting positive impact on their entire lives. Ones, that all of us will hopefully take away from this—and be stronger for it.
Today, I want to talk about two of the main life lessons we are all learning and relearning during this time. Though right now, for many of us, they feel like the equivalent of getting socks and underwear for our birthday—they are truly a gift. The sooner we can embrace these truths, the more resilient we will be, and able to meet life’s challenges head on.
Life rarely goes to plan.
This is one of the most terrible life lessons to swallow, and if you’re a graduate, you are learning it early. Though we’ve been told all our lives that if we work hard enough, we can do anything—the truth is stuff happens. We don’t always get the job we’ve worked for, or get to move to the place we want to live. Our loved ones won’t always be with us, and our friendship/relationships won’t all last.
But just because life doesn’t happen the way we project, it doesn’t mean incredibly good things aren’t still possible. When life sends a tornado (or pandemic), right down the center of our plans, our best response is to adjust. To lay down the expectations we’ve had, and be open to the amazing potential all around, and inside of us.
We are going to survive this.
This second lesson is difficult to believe in the moment. Especially if right now, you are watching job opportunities or dreams slip through your fingers. But we are stronger than we think, and more resilient than we know. Yes, like all hard things in life, we may come out of this quarantine with a few scars. We may also lose a dream we’ve had for as long as we can remember. But here is the amazing thing we are also going to learn this year:
Hope doesn’t die with lost dreams, disappointments, or unexpected hurt.
Sure, we can bury it with all our sorrow, but hope still remains. A few weeks ago, I shared that Jesus told us in life, we will have trouble. But He follows those words by telling us to take heart, He has overcome the world (John 16:33). If we have faith, we can trust that Jesus is going to bring us through this time. And as we experience His faithfulness in this, we will learn we can trust Him to be faithful in all things.
How are these lessons playing out in your life right now?
What is helping you hold on in the midst of all the unknown?
Feeling a little adrift in this strange, new normal of being at home? Sign up for my email list and get your free copy of my Social Distancing Survival Guide: Everyday Routines. Sign up here.
