Beautiful In Its Time

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Submitted May 25, 2012

Ambassador Bible Center Graduation

Source: Brenda Stutzman

Last weekend was difficult for me. It was filled with joy and sadness as the Ambassador Bible Center came to a close at graduation and all my classmates started new directions in their lives.

I saw most of them off and came home to our apartment that was empty except for a few of my things. I finished packing my belongings and as I was handing the keys to the manager’s office, I wasn’t sure what God wanted me to think of it all. It was a sobering moment for me and in tears I asked God to give me strength and comfort amidst all of this sudden change.

A few nights later, I watched a movie that recently came out, called the Vow. In the story, Leo (Channing Tatum) and his wife Page (Rachel McAdams) are in a car accident that sends her entire body through the windshield, headfirst. When she wakes from her coma weeks later, her unique brain injury left her with all of her memories—except for her memories of her marriage to Leo and their love.

Throughout the narration of the story, Leo says, “Life is all about moments of impact.” “My theory is that these moments of impact, these flashes of high intensity that completely turn our lives upside down actually end up defining who we are. The thing is each one of us is the sum total of every moment that we have ever experienced with all the people we have ever known.” He concluded, “No matter how hard you try to control, you just need to wait until the next collision.”

But should that be the conclusion I draw from my recent moment of impact? I don’t believe so. I agree that my experiences at ABC, and the relationships with my classmates that I have shared for nine months have helped mold and shape me, but this was a wake up call—It doesn’t end there. All of us have bright futures ahead of us, and special plans from the Almighty God. We can move forward and cherish the times that we have had—but the choice is up to us.

Ecclesiastes 3 says, “to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven . . . A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.” But “He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
See All..., 4-5, 11).