To Our Graduates
Every graduation season, I reach for a little book that’s been part of my ministry since seminary—When You Graduate by Rev. Charles L. Allen and Dr. Mouzon Biggs Jr. I’ve given this book to so many graduates over the years, and it still speaks deeply to me. Maybe it’s because I interned with Dr. Biggs at Boston Avenue UMC and saw firsthand the kind of encouragement and hope he poured into young people. Maybe it’s just that the words hold up, year after year.
Right at the beginning, Rev. Allen writes something that I think every graduate—and honestly, every one of us—needs to hear:
“We think of graduation as the end of an era in our lives—and it is. Graduation is also a commencement. It is the time of beginning again… There is an old adage, ‘Beaten paths are for beaten people.’ It has been well said, ‘A person who refuses the challenge of life has died without living.’”
That line always stops me: Beaten paths are for beaten people.
Graduation might feel like the end of something big—and it is—but it’s also the beginning of something bigger. It’s a launching point. And if we’re not careful, we might step into this next chapter thinking we have to follow some well-worn path laid out by others. But I think God’s invitation is often to something more courageous than that. Something a little riskier. Something that requires trust.
The truth is, the real journey begins when we’re willing to begin again. And not just once, but again and again throughout our lives.
To our graduates: don’t be afraid to step off the beaten path. Let curiosity guide you. Let faith sustain you. Let challenge shape you, not break you. Life will ask hard things of you—but I believe with everything in me that God will meet you in those places and give you exactly what you need.
And to the rest of us? Let’s not stop beginning. Let’s not stop stepping into new places, even if they feel a little uncertain. The beaten path might be easier, but the road that takes faith? That’s where the good stuff happens.
Here’s to brave steps, fresh starts, and the God who walks with us every single mile. See you Sunday!
Peace, Pastor Tracy