By Jason Hillier, Campus Pastor, Valley Creek Church Flower Mound
“So, what do you want to do next?”
It is probably the most common question asked during graduation season. But is it the right one?
Graduation season — a season of independence, discovery, and new beginnings. A season where graduates finally get to go off on their own and explore the things they are most passionate about.
What about asking this question instead: Do you have a vision for who you want to become?
The world has a vision for graduates. It tells them these are the glory days — soak them in, consume everything you can, because it doesn’t get any better than this! That vision is less focused on the kind of person they are becoming, and more focused on what they can get out of it. The only problem is — what happens when they get out of it?
The stats don’t lie. Half of all young adults report financial instability. Many struggle to pursue long-term relationships. Three-fourths of young adults walk away from their faith post-college. A big reason why is this: they treated this season as a destination rather than part of a journey — and they had no vision for who they were becoming along the way.
Proverbs 29:18 — “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
Here is the truth for graduates: they will probably have more than one job, more than one home, maybe even more than one career. But they only get one soul. Only one heart. So, what will be the condition of those things?
No one accidentally flourishes in life. It takes intentionality to cultivate a healthy heart. It takes vision to become who God is calling us to be.
So, as you engage graduates throughout this season — the real question isn’t just, “What do you want to do?”
It’s — who do you want to become?
