We say we want more and constantly find ourselves grinding but we can’t want new beginnings and fear endings at the same time. The end declares the beginning and the beginning, well that’s the fun part. If there weren’t milestones we would grow wearing in setting goals and pursuing the good of them. Often stuck at the question, where do I go from here? But what’s next will reveal itself once you take inventory of what you’ve gained. Just because you graduate doesn’t mean you have to start over, you’ve just changed your learning grounds. Everything you’ve learned up to this point becomes your tool to build and get to the next.
What we have are the things we need to get what we want and what we need will only gravitate to that which holds purpose. If it doesn’t have a purpose it isn’t a need. It’s important, in the graduation season, to discern what we want vs need. This understanding grants clarity to effectively manage what we have. It directs our energy. And it allows better perspective for the preparation of tomorrow. You’re not starting over, you’re adding up.
Fearing the end of a season disqualifies your roots. In times of change be still (reference blog archives). Be planted. The same supply that got you here/there will carry you through and beyond. Maybe the ending of a season feels like a cutting away or those good things are lost for good but the pruning process enables you, it doesn’t handicap you. If your fruit isn’t pruned you become full and wouldn’t have space to GROW MORE. The seeds of tomorrow are found in the fruit of today but can only grow if planted in the NEW ground. You have to trust whats unseen but understanding whats currently seen can’t remain if you want to see more. What was your glory needs to be released to continue your story. You have to be OK letting go of what used to be good enough. If your hope is placed in your fruit you’ll never be motivated to move on, you’ll end with it. Your hope isn’t your fruit it’s the purpose of it. Your security isn’t their blossoming its the stability of your foundation.
Are you planted in good ground?
The real issue isn’t that season’s change. If you’re planted in good ground you’ll evolve through any season. If not you’ll fade with the seasons. When your fruit is gone, you’ll fade. When the wind blows, you’ll fade. When it rains, you’ll drown and fade. Your mind, body, and soul must be planted in ground that will feed and nourish. Your ground must cultivate your growth. Is what you’re standing on strong and fertile? Is what you’re standing on limiting where your seed can travel and be planted. You are your only limitation because seeds develop from within. You’ve been looking out and neglecting your ground when if you look inwards you’ll see all you’ve collected was helping you to the place you can stand to birth the blessing of fruit year by year.
The Unknown is inevitable because we cannot predict the future we can only prepare for it. We don’t know exactly how long a season will last or to what the degree the weather will change but we do know no season lasts forever. If we view who we are through the lens of what we go through we will die many deaths. To live forever is to remain planted regardless of what we face. A seed is buried in whats unknown but as it endures it becomes familiar and is able to open up and receive from it and use it to produce. Every seed at some point must break its shell and release whats within into the unknown and every seed must trust that whats within is enough to harvest a forest.
The cultivation of you
Your best days are in front of you but only if you keep living. Graduation is a beautiful time to assess what you have and allow the new level to be your new training ground. Let every course of life multiply it. Be fruitful and multiply. The lessons you learn help indicate whats coming. You may not know how the season will pan out, no season is exactly the same year in and year out, but you can assure if you have solid roots you’ll keep on standing. Not knowing serves you better because you can prepare beyond the limitations of what you think you know. If you always knew what to expect or reach for you’d never gain unexpected blessings; what you didn’t know to pray for. Yes, be wise and test the times, listen for the rain and see where the wind is blowing but don’t get more caught up in what’s outside than you prepare what’s on the inside. The unknown should help you stay alert and expand the land of your mind. The unknown is not your enemy it’s that friend you didn’t know you needed. It’s the friend that responds to the voice of your faith and whispers to you, there’s more.
Nothing you’ve gone through will be wasted and nothing that ends is actually over because what you’ve learned becomes new seed to bear more fruit. If you’ve been struggling wondering whats next revisit the tests of the seasons and know that everything you’ve lived through has become a weapon for you. Maybe you don’t need to know exactly where you’re going right now as much as you need to know you can make it through. The beauty of discovery is just that, its discovery. Don’t be so hard on yourself, you’re being cultivated and your trials are only strengthening your roots.
Answers will come but if you don’t raise up they won’t find you. Grow from here and you’ll know where to go from here.