Lessons Learned

Yesterday as I was driving, an older song came on the radio called "Lessons Learned," and as I was singing along the lyrics really tugged at my heart.

Tomorrow I will celebrate with my brother as he graduates college. To him this day symbolizes an ending. It's an ending to endless studying, an ending to late nights out, and an ending learning. However, being four years removed from my own graduation I can safely say that this is only the beginning. It's the beginning of life changes. It's the beginning of applying your education into the real world, and it's the beginning of a true education in life lessons.

My prayer for Clay and the class of 2012 is to embrace this journey. There will be good days and bad. There will be seasons of joy and of pain. There will moments of laughter and of tears. There will be letdowns and surprises.

There will paths that look nothing like the map you plotted in your heart. There will be growing pains as you stretch and mature into the men and women you are supposed to be. You will make mistakes. You will say things you'll regret. You'll have your heart broken and you'll break a few along the way.

You see, life is full of seasons. What is good won't always be good, and what is bad won't always be bad. That's the way God intended it to be, so that we would learn to lean on him in the valley's and rejoice in him on the mountain tops. May you never forget to give Him the glory, and may you always remember that through each season of this new journey there are many lessons to be learned.

"Lessons Learned"

There's some things that I regret,

some words I wish had gone unsaid,

some starts

that had some better endings.

There have been some bad times I've been through and
damage I cannot undo.

There have been some things,

I wish I could do all all over again.

But it doesn't really matter.

When life gets that much harder,

it makes you that much stronger.

There have been some pages turned,

some bridges burned,

but there were,

lessons learned.

There's mistakes that I have made,

some chances I just threw away,

some roads,

I never should have taken.

There have been some signs I didn't see,

some hearts that I hurt needlessly,

and some wounds

that I wish I could have one more chance to mend.

But that doesn't make a difference.
The past can't be rewritten.
You get the life you're given.

There have been some pages turned

and some bridges burned,
But there were,

lessons learned.

I'm grateful for every tear that had to fall from my eyes,

and every day I wondered how I'd get through the night.

I'm grateful for every change life has thrown me.

I'm thankful, for every break in my heart.