I wrote this on October 30th with this blog in mind...now that I am officially graduated, I thought I would share it with you all.
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The most important things I have learned in college, based on how much I have grown in my understanding of them:
- the importance of a true, legitimate, and thriving relationship with God. Period. Not what I want to think about God, not how I imagine God, but YAHWEH.
- the impact on myself in loving and investing in other people, even if I am not necessarily close friends with them. The impact of this on the people themselves has always been more obvious, but not the impact on ME.
- how to draw. This is a basic skill I really didn't have in beginning college, and it has changed me in many ways; how I see, how I think, and how I perceive myself as an artist and a person.
- harness motivation when you have it; God may replace it with something more important, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take advantage of it while you have it.
- how to manage my time. I used to have no idea how to do this/why it was important. I not only discovered how to do it (necessity is the mother of invention indeed), but how much of an impact it makes on me, my work, and why.
- how to get A's. So far in my experience here, I have received nothing less than an A- in a course. This was not the case prior to Biola, so I suppose it is fair to say I learned this skill. It is very closely related to the above point, but not always as a rule.
- how to enjoy life and the importance of not caring. This is perhaps what I have learned the most THIS semester. Sometimes, caring is less important than my mental health...and sometimes, you need to do things just because you can, even (especially) if they make you uncomfortable. And I'm the biggest perpetrator of comfort.
I'm sure this list is nowhere near complete (it is called "life lessons" for a reason), but for now, these are the things I have come to understand as important in my undergraduate years. Sometimes, I look at the lives of people who have graduated last semester, and try to figure out how they're "making it", what they're doing and how they started. I haven't come to much of a conclusion, but one thing I have noticed is what they are NOT starving and living on the streets, let alone living with their parents. Since I am planning on somewhat depending on my parents for a little while, I should be fine. No, I will be fine. I need to figure out exactly what God is calling me to do NEXT and then do it. And then again. And again - walking by faith and not by sight. It has a whole new connotation to me now, but that's a good thing.
