AMY LARSON
Staff Writer
When I think of Jesus’ life, the abundant life He led as he walked the earth, I notice that Jesus was rarely hurried, seldom cared about reputation, and always dwelt with people.
As this week marks the beginning of my last year at Pepperdine, although this is a liberating thought in many ways (I won’t be responsible for essays, humanities books, or counting convocation credits a year from now), it is also unbelievably terrifying.
A portion of the past few months was spent recounting my remaining college experiences, lamenting the end of my “last summer break” and my “last trip back to Pepperdine.” Try as I may to remind myself that there is a life after college, it is still unknown, and that is frightening.
Mid-August, for me, is a lot like early January; many resolutions are made, and, often, the ones created before the beginning of a new school year (to stop procrastinating, for example), are thrown to the wayside just as easily as the resolutions for the new year (to go to the gym everyday).
This year, though, something was different; in thinking and planning for the upcoming year, I saw a pattern.
My resolutions had shifted from schoolwork to people, from planning more study time to planning more time spent with others. My justification was always that I had no choice but to do this or do that, to hang out with that person, or to go here or there – this year is my last chance.
I finally had to examine my motives: Why such great woe at leaving the collegiate life?
The more I considered it, the more I realized that both my fears and my ambitions for my final year revealed that perhaps I have not made the most of past years. Without minimizing the importance of academics, I sometimes regret studying so much.
Those long hours in the library have afforded me many good grades and work I am proud of, but I sometimes wonder what I missed with my roommates or friends because I had to study (or sleep, or work, or whatever) the extra hour or two.
Jesus talks about bringing his followers a life that is so full of good things, they spill over (John 10). One translation says that the life Jesus brings is “more and better life than [people] ever dreamed of” (The Message).
In fact, Jesus was almost never alone — he spent time laughing, crying, praying, traveling with, hoping for, and listening to people.
The fact that Jesus accomplished more in a few years of living this way than most people could do if they lived to be a hundred confirms that a successful life isn’t marked by a grade point average, a career, or a social status, but rather by love shown in the lives of others.
As I begin this year, I still feel a twinge of uncertainty and fear. Yet I somehow know this year will be my best here in Malibu.
It isn’t because it’s my last, or because of any job, or because of any class. Rather, it is because I have finally recognized what, for me, college – and life – is really about: spending time showing God’s love to others.
08-27-2007