The Four P's

It’s April, and therefore graduation planning is under way. I find myself with an all-female senior class of young ladies who are very smart and very promising. (And I’m not just saying that because my little sister is one of them.) I have secured our keynote speaker, and this morning while drying my hair, found myself mentally writing her address. Of course, this very capable person will be writing and delivering her own speech, but I figured I’d blog my ideas anyway, send them into the universe for someone else to be (hopefully) inspired, and then remember to graft some of them into my introduction of the speaker in June.

Purpose. Perseverance. Patience. Progress. These four words have more in common than their first letter. The last is rarely achieved without the application of the former three. As graduates stepping into the adult world, the following will be good advice to follow. Planning a future is not simple, and neither is taking on the challenges (and there will be many) that will bring your plans to fruition.

I detest an ambiguous task. Nevertheless, when faced with one that I just can’t seem to get my head or arms around, it is always best to sit back and think of the desired end result and try to get a feel for the big picture. After all, if you don’t know where you’re going, how do you expect to get there? Purpose. Determine it.

However, the end objective is often intimidating, and seems unattainable. That is why once the purpose is determined, logical steps to fulfill it must be outlined. Then that outline must be acted upon even if it is an uphill battle the entire way. Perseverance.

Certainly the order you try to keep these steps in will be tossed, and the schedule in which you wish to achieve them will not be kept. People get in the way. Life gets in the way. We get in the way of ourselves. Plans change. Cheese gets moved. There are few great things in life that don’t require some form of waiting. Patience. I hear it’s a virtue.

Finally, progress. The funny thing about this one is that we never realize when it occurs. It’s only when you look back that you realize you’ve achieved it. An added reward is that the hard work and victories won have made you a better and stronger individual, one ready to grab the next challenge by the horns and start all over, but with earned confidence.

Accompanying all of these steps is the most important advice I can leave with a graduate, or anyone, including myself. Remember it is all in God’s hands – if you put it there. When you can’t see the light at the end of whatever tunnel you’re in, look up at the Light. Knowing this is simple enough, living and walking in it is slightly more difficult. I have to remind myself to do so approximately once an hour.

With that said, we can boldly take on the circumstances life throws at us, whether they are professional or personal. We don’t have to be intimidated by any perceived limitation or ceiling, except the starry one we sit under at night, and only then because we are humbled by the mystery and wonder of its Creator.

If you’re reading this and plan to attend Calvary Way’s commencement exercises, I suppose you can plug your ears when I take the podium to introduce the speaker and present the graduates, because these thoughts will be represented again. But, I promise I’ll phrase it differently, throw in a cheesy joke, and you’ll witness the added spectacle of me tearfully handing an Honor’s Diploma to my baby sister.