History Repeats Itself

It's crazy how much can change.

My little brother graduated from high school this past weekend. The same high school that my two older brothers and myself graduated from. 16 years and my family is finally done with high school (and my parents couldn't be more happy!)

As part of the tradition of graduating, our home church has a graduate Sunday where they recognize the recent high school and college graduates. My brother and I were both able to participate. Being home for that weekend brought back a lot of memories. Almost four years ago exactly, I was in the same place that my brother was, graduating high school and getting ready to face the world of college. And now, here I was, four years later, with a college degree and a year of divinity school done. And so much has changed. Four years ago, I don't think that I would have thought that I would have been where I am today. Since four years ago, one of my closest friends is married, another one is getting married in a week, one is a youth minister, and another one is living in New York City. I don't think any of us planned on ending up where we did. But, I don't think we would change it.

Some of us have learned some hard lessons along the way. All of us have had our ups and downs. We've all had moments of joy. All of us are no longer the people we were in high school but we can look back and smile at the memories. Then, we can turn around and look forward to what the future holds right now for us.

So, I wonder, have people around me thought about how much life has changed for them in this season of change?

Moments.

We all have moments: moments of joy, moments of hurt, moments of anger, moments of sadness. Too often we try to pass over the moments.

As people face change, I feel like they need to let themselves be in the moment, whatever that moment may be. If the change brings excitement, be excited and take in that moment of excitement because all too soon the change will become routine and the excitement turns into indifference. And if the moment brings sadness, allow yourself to be sad. I think people feel like it's not okay to be sad or that they should not be sad for that long and they should be able to quickly get over things.

Too often we expect ourselves to be happy all the time and that if we're not "happy," then something is wrong. Life is not about being happy. Part of life is about experiencing things. Sadness and all the other emotions are just a part of life. We shouldn't be afraid to feel the other emotions and should be able to express them. This week, I'm sad. I don't feel like it's wrong for me to be sad or that I should get over it quickly. Things are changing and a major change is happening this week for me.  It's okay for me to be sad. I'm not sad because things are bad but I'm just sad for the things that will be different. I will miss the way things  used to be but I will be open to new traditions. I will cherish the memories that I have and cherish the moments that will come. The sadness will not last forever. There are new moments to look forward to. Someone once told me with all change comes grief. I have found that to be true. So I guess right now part of my sadness is grief over the loss of some traditions and moments. And that's okay.

So for now, this week, I'm sad. But it's okay and I am okay. It's just a part of this journey of life. Things will change and we will change with it.