Mike Franklin
Excitement is in the air as seniors at every level come to the end of a long enduring educational process. A season of life is ending. But what some don’t know, is we must move forward from here and take the next step. There are many steps in life, and the trick to being successful is taking the next one. Each step of life’s journey leads to the next step we must take. So, what’s your next step?
Many of us become nostalgic. Instead of reflecting passion about and vision for the future, we become fascinated with the past. We think about an America that was, a life we knew, former glory in a context of security. A gleam comes to our eye as we rehearse the “good ole days.” It is a backward facing view which doesn’t see the decisions we need to make today to create the future we want tomorrow.
Often, fear and gloom pervade our thoughts about what is to come. Nostalgia says, we have buried the greatest generation, the following generation amassed an unpayable debt that overwhelms our future, we have decimated the environment, technology has zoomed out of control and created super bugs like COVID 19, a major war looms on the horizon, no institution is trustable (particularly the media and politicians), the future will afford a lifestyle of government control … etc. You know the song and dance, have heard it often, and may be embracing that mindset today. It sounds like this; I just wish I had lived in “the good ole days” when life was slow and simple, people cared for others, mass shootings were not the continual story on the daily news, when kindness was normal instead of hate, and life was much different – like the one you guys describe.
I encourage you to break out of that view of the world as you contemplate your future. Plenty of glory days are ahead of you. Life will be bigger and better as you keep stepping into the future God has designed for you. Don’t allow gloom and fear to overshadow the opportunities that lie before you. Don’t allow chronic bouts with depression to overwhelm your soul. Don’t stay on the step where you are standing. Simply move to the next step.
Dream of a better world beginning today. When you see graduation as a commencement, you know it is both an ending and a new beginning. You have accomplished something worthwhile so you can do something worthwhile. Graduation is simply one step in life’s journey; don’t stop on the step. There will be many graduations in life, endings which are the genesis of new beginnings. For all of us, there are many graduations in life, success based on good habits that propels us forward to new opportunities and blessings. Some of us say, “the journey to success.” The problem with that is success is not a destination. Choose to say, “the success journey.” Then success becomes a series of steps that lead you forward on the path God laid out for you. Psalm 37:23 states, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.” NKJV God orders the steps of those who follow His plan. So, listen for His voice, know the best is yet to come, and don’t stay on this step. Move to the next one knowing you are on a journey fulfilling His plan for your life. Proverbs 3:5-6 are powerful reminders of God’s plan being fulfilled in our lives. “5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” NKJV
Be encouraged today, the best is yet to come.
Mike Franklin is pastor of The Torch.