“The point I am trying to make here is that we as a class have experienced some incredible moments. In the musical “Into the Woods,” a character experiences a great moment and then, in a moment of reflection, says something incredible. “Oh, if life were made of moments, even now and then a bad one… but if life were made of moments, then you’d never know you’d had one.” To de-rhyme and dig deeper into Sondheim’s lyrical brilliance, think for a moment about what this character is saying. If all we ever experience is a peak, it will start to feel more like a plateau, and we may stop appreciating those precious times when everything works out better than you dreamed it could and you walk away feeling like you really were, for only a moment, on top of the world. Life is not, nor can it be, made of these moments. Instead, these moments are made of life. So, I propose that we have not experienced great moments, but we are experiencing great life. And if that is the case, it does not end after high school. In fact, the end of high school is where the rest of this great life begins.
C.S. Lewis once wrote, “There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” It is my interpretation that he meant this quote on two levels. First, Lewis was making the same point Sondheim was making, in a sense. Life is not a series of great moments with a few bad ones interspersed. Life is a constant journey, and every journey has a destination. Some people say, “Not all who wander are lost,” and maybe that has some truth in it. But in reality, people who wander usually are not looking ahead; they are usually looking at the ground directly in front of them. So, here’s some of that life-changing advice: Look up. Look up at the world you’re passing by and see the beauty in it. Look up and see the past, remember it, learn from it, but don’t dwell in it. Look up and see the future, more bright and promising than we can even imagine. And finally, look up and see what Lewis really meant. The Things ahead with a capital T. See, Lewis experienced his share of hardship. He saw war, death, and heartbreak many times in his life. So when he wrote this quote, he did not necessarily mean he expected life to improve immediately. The things ahead Lewis is referring to are not things of this world. Lewis believed that at the end of his life journey, he had one final destination: the kingdom of heaven. Some of you do not believe this is your destination or anyone’s destination, and I do not stand before you to tell you to change that. But if you take nothing else from what I have said to you tonight, take this: that whether we gather to celebrate life’s great moments or to mourn life’s heartbreaking twists and turns, I have found no joy that is greater and no hope that is stronger than that joy and hope which is found in Christ. As we take the plunge into the rest of our lives, I want to encourage you all to remember that and to hold onto it in good times and bad.”
These points seemed important for me to make because culture sends such mixed messages about how we should live our lives. We are told we should live life to the fullest because it is short, and we have extreme limits on the time we have to find the meaning of it. At the same time, we are told to guard ourselves and protect ourselves, because life is too short to live it in pain. In my speech, in this post, and in general, I disagree with both of these life perspectives. Life is short because we should not need that much time to find the meaning in it: God has revealed of himself all we could possibly need to be drawn to him, to know him, and to experience his overwhelming sufficiency. Life is painful because too many people are so busy trying to find meaning they hurt others and themselves in the process. Life is short, and we fear it because what happens next is unfamiliar and we cannot fully understand it. Life is painful, and we fear it because we focus more on the fear of pain than the joy that lies just on the other side. Life is short. Life is painful. And in the time it takes to comprehend the balance between the lack of time and the surplus of suffering, life passes by.
I shared the points from my speech with my fellow classmates and with you now because, though I know my published contemplations cannot possibly answer your questions and erase your fears, I hope they can encourage you to set those questions and fears aside, and simply live. Go out and experience the things that scare you. Do it with no fear of failure; failure is an inevitable step on the path to success. Do it without looking back; why look where you cannot go? Look instead at where you are going. Fix your eyes on God and on all that he has set before you, from your next breath to your last breath, and every moment after. If you seek purpose, seek His. If you seek protection from pain, seek His. Never seek elsewhere, and never stop seeking.
Life truly is short. So acknowledge the time constraints, know your purpose, and live fully in that purpose.
Life truly is painful, but in the words of The Lumineers, “It’s better to feel pain than nothing at all. The opposite of love is indifference.” Our God’s love is deep and can heal any amount of hurt, so do not be afraid to love deeply, and to be hurt in the process.
And in all of that courageous, non-hesitant living, never forget to look up.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." --Hebrews 12:1-2
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