By Emily Fox · Former Editor-in-Chief
“College is the best four years of your life. Enjoy it while you can; it’ll be over soon, and then you’ll have to work for the rest of your life.”
This not-so-encouraging but familiar piece of advice has been passed down to seniors for generations. And instead of urging us to live in the present, it creates a foreboding feeling about the future.
But rest assured, the end of college isn’t the end of your life. There are still moments of eager anticipation, loud laughter, meaningful camaraderie and formative growth yet to come. This new season of life is only mundane if you choose to view it that way.
Though I no longer spend my days listening to lectures in Staley Hall of Arts and Letters, I haven’t stopped learning. The classroom looks different, and the subject matter has changed, but lessons about life and my purpose in the world are no less edifying than the great works of literature I studied at Grove City.
Like many recent graduates, I find myself in a season of waiting. I had freelance work coming out of my ears all summer, but now it’s almost completely dried up and I’m in the all-too-familiar cycle of filling out applications and refreshing my inbox, hoping for a response.
But in this waiting period, I’ve learned to be content when plans don’t pan out and to appreciate the small joys the Lord gives me each day. Most of all, I’ve learned to let go of control and trust God with my future.
My time at Grove City was everything I dreamed it would be and more. I discovered God-given talents, made lifelong friendships, did meaningful work and even met the love of my life. But those four years were also very fast-paced, and slowness is a concept I’ve come to appreciate these past few months.
And though waiting for my career to take off is often frustrating, it’s given me more time to pour into the things that matter most to me. I’m able to be present with my family in a way I couldn’t when I was at school; I’ve reconnected with old friends, volunteered at church and picked up hobbies I always wanted to try but never had the time for.
I’ve been directing my attention and effort into new and meaningful work. I started teaching Sunday school. Learning to teach little kids has been a bit like figuring out how to read Chaucer in Old English my first semester. Communicating complicated spiritual concepts to little kids is sort of like trying to read without any standard spelling. With time, commitment and prayer, you start to figure it out.
Laughter and deeply meaningful conversations didn’t end when I picked up my diploma either. Like many Grover grads, my summer after senior year was full of weddings. I came together with fellow alumni to celebrate the sacred union of marriage, discuss how we’ve all grown and changed and, of course, dance to “Y.M.C.A.”
So yes, my years at Grove City were some of the best of my life, and now they’re over. But though formal education ends, joy, meaning and learning don’t. Seasons of waiting might feel like a consuming void of nothingness, but God is still working behind the scenes. So let’s take some time to remember the gift our college experience is and to reunite with classmates and professors, but let’s not forget that the end of one season is only the beginning of another.
