A New Year

This is going to be a big year. As I look ahead, there will be lots of beginnings and endings and transitions and other significant happenings. This will be my first year with an internship and possibly a job. It may be my first year where I don't travel in the summer. This will be my last year as an undergraduate college student. It might be my last year in Tucson. It will be my last year as a student leader with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. It might my last year having quite a few different titles and experiences and identities. It will be my last year being underage (oh boy!). And, anyway you put it, it's going to be a year of a lot of risks and uncertainty, which brings me back to my favorite book of Ecclesiastes.

See, every moment is one of uncertainty. Life is uncertain, with the exception of one fact: everybody dies.

“Everyone under the sun suffers the same fate….There is nothing ahead but death.” - Ecclesiastes 9:3-4

In a lot of ways, it’s a good thing. Immortality in a broken world is not something to covet. One lifetime provides quite enough suffering. The brevity of it makes one grasp the preciousness of every moment. My campus group is kicking off the semester with a Carpe Diem theme. Seize the day. Take advantage of everything that you have now and do something meaningful. Don’t waste your life. Don’t take the relationships you have around you for granted. Take joy in your life. Make your days matter.

Risk is essential.

“So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this…Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless day of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil. Whatever you do, do well.” - Ecclesiastes 9:7-10

There’s a balance to be had in the spectrum between rash, emotional decisions and over-planned, tentative living, but I think sometimes I fall too close to the latter. I’d live my life a bit differently if I thought it’d be much shorter, or if the lives of those around me were much shorter. I’d take more risks. I’d probably pursue relationships harder, spend more time with people, and take some crazier trips to places I’ve always wanted to experience.

We were not created to live safely. God calls to each of us: Risk it all. Only when we risk can he reward us. He is our Assurance, our Rock. He will be there to catch us. But He cannot catch us if we never step off the cliff. There is no prize for sitting on the edge all of our lives.

For me, I think now the question remains: What risks should I be taking now?