Day #47: Easter Sunday and New Beginnings

                Easter Sunday! Today marks the end of Lent, and thus the end of my regular blog entries. With just two weeks left in my freshman year, the end is in sight, and things are looking up. Furthermore, I now have 47 positive entries in my repertoire for when things aren’t going so well. However, I am not anticipating this to happen anytime soon, because next semester is looking very hopeful. I have just one lab class, and friends in all of the rest of my classes. The average GPA of potentially my hardest class next semester is still higher than any that I am currently enrolled in. I feel that I am much better prepared for success than I have been previously. I will be living in an apartment, not forced to eat at the dining hall, and done by noon almost every day. That’s another good thing about college: second chances. It’s strange to think what an enormous difference such little changes can create. Ironically, isn’t that the theme of the season? Rebirth and new beginnings.

                I would just like to take this opportunity to focus on the reason for our Lenten sacrifices and the significance of this day, which is, of course, the coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus came so that we could all have a “second chance”, and so that we wouldn’t have to carry on in misery. God gives us this opportunity each and every day, as is evidenced by less significant instances than our eternal well-being, such as a new semester, a new day, or a new chapter. No matter how terrible our burden at the time may seem, we can take comfort in knowing that it will pass eventually, and that a new beginning will await us. No matter the pain, fear, or nerves, there is a time when they will be gone, and we will get there one way or another. The challenge is finding the grace to appreciate the time that elapses in between.

                I have learned that there will always be challenges and obstacles facing me; that is just how life goes. Things are not going to get easier after college, because then the real world will be awaiting me, ready with its own harsh lessons. Some of the best moments of life are not found in accomplishing a goal, but in appreciating what it took to get there. If everything was just a countdown to a new deadline or date, then life would just fly past unnoticed. We have each been blessed with too dear a gift to allow that to happen. I think one of the most poignant things I have learned over the last few weeks can be summed up in a single quote: “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”