What should I say to a graduate? I have received many graduation announcements recently, and I would like to respond thoughtfully to each. Whenever I graduated from something, it felt like I had crossed a finish line, but that feeling didn’t last for long because each graduation brought me to a new beginning—from high school senior to college freshman, and from college senior to the office rookie. What I have learned is that graduations are more like starting lines than finish lines, and that there is only one finish line in this life.
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul talks about this lack of a finish line when he writes, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14) He doesn’t mention a finish line until the end of the chapter. There he adds, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Philippians 3:20-21)
So here is my wisdom for graduates: There is and always will be something more, a new beginning. You will never finish.