This semester may be my last in college, at least for the near future. At first, I thought it would be easy to say goodbye to a campus that has been the canvas of my very messy life for the past two and a half years. I was wrong. Anticipating what is to come has led to a host of reflections on the past.

After one semester in Music Performance, I changed my major to Economics, which was mostly unfamiliar territory to me. By God’s grace, and much to my relief, this alteration played out swimmingly. I enjoyed the formulas and graphs that comprise social sciences, and the “rules of the game” associated with economic study made it easy to derive clear-cut answers from basic models.

You might already see where this mentality trips you up if you apply it to everyday life: The real world does not operate in such simple terms. It is complex, beautiful, sorrowful, and broken. When allowed to fade into the backdrop, the assumptions posited by basic economic models—assumptions that individuals are self-interested and that interpretations are and should remain objective—are strong enough to warp the results of analysis to a fault. This is not to say social sciences are not useful, but it is to say that they cannot produce all-encompassing results—they cannot play God. Most economists very clearly understand the limits of their field, and yet, judging from my experience, the aforementioned assumptions are deeply underemphasized. Economists, including myself, are guilty of becoming numb to our models’ assumptions. We revel in predictability—certainty. But, as the recently popularized adage goes, “The opposite of faith isn’t doubt; it’s certainty.” In essence, we still try to play God.

Sadly, I would posit that this flaw is not specific to economics or to the broader field of academia. Oftentimes, you and I carry around our assumptions for so long that we become desensitized to them. At what cost to us, though? At what cost to our neighbor? By assuming someone else will pick up the empty McDonald’s cup on the sidewalk, we live out the very idea Dr. Kerilyn Harkaway-Krieger warned against in chapel last year: “Everyone wants a revolution. No one wants to do the dishes.” Reframing this idea: Everyone wants a brighter future. No one wants to live in the present.

As the philosopher, inventor, and mathematician Blaise Pascal notes in his Pensées, “We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does … Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so” (43).

Pascal’s rather bleak description of this tendency is all too accurate for this mopey college senior. More and more, I find this sentiment resonating with earlier reflections; my core assumptions have deposited me outside of my current situation. Forgetting to live in the present, I reflect on what could’ve been, and dreaming about the future I consider all that could be—Why did I stick with dance, rather than branching out more in high school? Was switching majors the right decision? Is graduating this May the best path to take? While I still grapple with these past and forward-thinking questions, I want to use my present circumstances to offer some perspective to students who still have time to more fully appreciate what college has to offer.

Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, I long to be living in your present! I wish I had more time to forge deeper relationships and love my community better, especially having learned so much throughout my time at Gordon. As I must move forward, though, and continue to live in my present, I implore you to fully engage in yours. Consider this: What assumptions are you taking for granted? Do the dishes. Don’t assume change will come in the future; live it out now. Make eye contact when you pass by fellow members of your community because let’s face it—you have to see your neighbor to love them well. Authentically pursue God; get to know the Author of the Good Book. Finally, in tandem with the previous two points, act with mercy. We’re a bunch of sleep-deprived young adults living in pretty cramped quarters—i.e., things are bound to get ugly sometimes. But let’s start by amending that statement: We’re a bunch of sleep-deprived young adults living in pretty cramped Christian quarters.

Unfortunately, things are still bound to get ugly sometimes. Mercifully, Jesus calls on and loves not only the righteous, but also the sinners. We all make mistakes. But one of the biggest mistakes of all is forgetting that your enemies are also your fellow image-bearers. Love well, let God do the judging, and please—live in the present.