Finalists: Crippled by comparison?

For finalists without a job lined up for September this can be a horrible time of year.

Well-meaning friends and family members up and down the country will all be asking the same dreaded question “So what are your plans for next year?” 

If you’re in this camp it’s easy to feel like a failure. The more that other people’s plans fall into place, the more your lack of plans cause anxiety. With every interview rejection you receive, the temptation to compare yourself to ‘successful’ friends around you becomes all the greater. 

But God doesn’t see you this way. He doesn’t look at you and think “Come on son/daughter, get your act together, it’s embarrassing being your father right now”. No. Instead, he looks at you with a heart full of love and total acceptance and longs to see you land in a good place where you will flourish. A place where you can use your gifts and skills well in the world, irrespective of what everyone else is up to.

He’s not interested in who’s first off the blocks on the most competitive grad scheme, but who will remain faithful to him across a whole career, across a whole life-time.  Don’t let yourself be crippled by comparison.  Instead, keep your identity secure in him through this bumpy time and learn to trust that his plan is good even when the road forward is unclear.

All of us - great plans or no plans just yet - have the same deep calling for next year: to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves. Why not see how that goes down as an answer to the next person that asks what your plans are and then add on that you’re still actively figuring out the exact ‘whats’ and ‘wheres’?

If you're graduating this summer get your hands on a copy of the Graduate A-Z for personal, funny and profound insights into this challenging transition.  

This is a guest blog by Sarah-Jane Marshall, Young Adults Project Leader for LICC.  Check out her talk 'Finding your calling' here.

Pippa Elmes

Head of Partnership

Pippa supports those in church based student ministry to do their job really well. She loves challenging churches to work with students and equipping them to pioneer new mission opportunities to reach students.                     

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