Life is made up of a series of seasons with transitional periods in between. How we handle one life transition will effect the next one as well.
For the majority of high school graduates, this is the first major life transition, or at least the first one they will make on their own. If you ask them, it can not come soon enough, but you and I know that they need every moment of this year to prepare.
When we make a transition in our life, it is up to us how prepared we want to be. We can wing-it and hope it goes well, or we can be wise and take the necessary steps to make a healthy transition.
There is no magic formula or method to preparing for a life transition, but I think there are ways to do it well. One of the first steps before looking too far ahead is to look back. We can learn so much from our journey that God has brought us on. Romans 15:4 says,“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” In Hebrews 12:11 we learn that “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Jeremiah 6:16 says that before you make a decision you should, “ask for the ancient paths” meaning that we should look back at how God has prepared us for this decision.
Here are 10 questions for you to ask your senior, or for your senior to ask him/her self, to help them prepare for the transition into college:
When have you felt the strongest in your walk with Christ?
When have you felt the weakest in your faith?
What has caused the biggest spiritual growth spurts in the past 2 years?
What are your biggest moral struggles, and what does it take for them to affect you?
How has peer pressure affected you in the past year?
What have you learned about yourself that could help you overcome OR cause you to fall to peer pressure in college?
How have Christian friends and mentors helped you grow in your faith this year, and since they probably aren’t all going with you to college, what have those relationships taught you about your need for community to grow in college?
What are you going to miss most about not living at home with your family?
What will you have to learn to do better before you live away from your family in college?
What mistake do you hope not to make in college?
What are two or three qualities about yourself right now that you hope to change or mature while in college?