Hey there Graduates of 2014.  I’ve got some advice for you while you celebrate this milestone.  I know you’re busy so I’ll make it quick.

1.  Move on.

Your education thus far has been like a water balloon.  Your school is the balloon and the people you’ve gone to school with have been the water.  On graduation day, that balloon pops and nothing at all is holding you all together any longer.  The majority of those people you perhaps tried hard to impress and fit in with are people you’ll have no further interaction with.  Likewise, there are those who have squirmed their way into your heart and you cherish them.  Keep hold of those friends and move on.

2.  Stay hungry, yet humble.

Over the next year or two you’re going to have your mind blown finding out that you’re not nearly as smart as you thought.  Keep an insatiable hunger to learn, grow, and stretch.  But keep in mind that the older you get, the more you’re going to realize that you have so much more to learn.  Let that reality keep you humble as you hunger for more life experiences that will teach you valuable lessons.

3.  Never ever settle.

I’m not advocating workaholism.  I’m not advocating greed.  I’m not advocating discontentedness.  I’m saying always be on the lookout around you for what else can be bettered, who else can be loved, where else can you serve.  Don’t settle for a life that has its focus on your own comfort.  If you do, I promise you you’ll reach the end of it all and kick yourself for being so shallow.

4.  Eat the termite.

I was once on a boat in the mangroves of Costa Rica.  The driver of the boat pulled it up to a tree with an enormous termite nest on it.  He took out his knife and sliced off a slab of that nest while termites crawled all over his hand.  He lifted his hand to his mouth and licked several termites off.  He then offered anyone who was willing to join him in his little feast.  I jumped at the chance to eat termites with Raffa in a boat in the jungles of Costa Rica.  Whenever you get a chance to do something, do that something.

5.  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

Make your life about Him and He’ll make your life matter in ways you never saw coming.  It really is as simple as that.  Whether you know it or not (and whether you like it or not), this man died to purchase you.  Until you embrace that, living your life will be like driving a stolen car.  Your life isn’t yours.  It’s His.  Turn it over to Him and see what happens.

Congratulations graduates.  Stand still for a minute, soak in the sun of this milestone, then get moving.