The end is in sight

It is almost the end of the quarter! Yeah! Only one more paper to finish up and 3 days of classes and this puppy is done! It is exciting to be 2/3 of the way through seminary, but a little scary as well. I have started to feel anxious about GOEs, ordinations, and finding work. I am also sad about losing some friends that I have grown close to over the last two years. In my first year, when the seniors graduated, though I liked many of them, I spent the whole year knowing they were leaving. I never really got very close to them because I didn't have any classes with them. This year, I have had classes with the senior class, I have spent the last two years with them, I have worked with them on group projects, plunge and worship services. I have learned a great deal from many of them and been personally enriched by my relationships with them. I will miss them all very much.
I will also miss my own class this summer. Though we have spent the last two years in close contact with each other, and like to complain that we are sick of each other, the truth is that I will miss them greatly. We have been taking fewer and fewer classes together and it feels like a slow pulling apart of a family. I have no idea what I am going to feel like next year. Very sad, I am sure. It feels very disingenous to smile when someone says to you, "don't worry, we'll stay in touch." Especially knowing that, most probably, that isn't true. People get busy with their lives, with their work, and it just never happens. Oh well, that is how life changes and cycles.
My wish for this year's graduating seniors is that they all find meaningful paths of minstry in Christ's church that enrich them and allows them, in turn, to enrich the church. They all have so much to give that it makes me grateful to see them taking the difficult path of following Christ's lead. God bless you all and grant you peace in all that you do. Amen.