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Value your Relational Gifts!
Sometimes in my public speaking class I ask my students to give an impromptu speech on the best gift they have ever received. I am amazed as students often go back to express the joy that a seemingly simple or even an inexpensive gift has given them. Memories come to their minds often years after the gift was received. They take joy in remembering the special toy, book, or experience that they value.
During these days of gift giving, take time to value the relational gifts that are already in your life.
Value your classmates.
Ask college graduates who have been out of school for years who their best friends are. You will likely have a great majority of responses that say that their good friends are the people with whom they attended classes. The shared experiences of exploring, discovering, learning, and support are not easily forgotten. I find that my best friends are mostly people that I developed relationships with during my college years.
Cherish and nurture the relationships with positive people who are now in your life. God has brought these people into your life for a reason. Take some risks and get to know someone new. Give God as say in reaching out to cultivate meaningful opportunities to grow together, to encourage one another, to challenge one another. Often group projects and shared classes provide meaningful friendships. You will look back on these friendships as gift.
Value your professors.
You might not initially realize it but as your professors we want you to thrive and flourish and go beyond your greatest dreams. Develop relationships with your faculty. Share your dreams, ask advice, accept suggestions. It is a joy to develop lifelong ties with my students: to attend their weddings, to celebrate their successes, to provide references and career advice, to use their professional expertise.
My valued financial advisor is a former student from a freshman public speaking class that I taught decades ago. I appreciate several former students who serve in pastoral roles in the church that I attend. I love the connections of students who serve in professional roles as attorneys, professors, medical personnel, as well as other fields that I have contact with frequently. Get to know us. These relationships do not end when one graduates. We value you.
Value your Saviour.
In the busyness if this season, it is easy to take for granted our valued relationship with our Lord and Saviour. Christ is the reason for the season, but we get busy and distracted with the demands of finishing up the semester with its projects, papers, and tests. The gift that our Lord values is our praise and thanksgiving. Recall what He has done for you. Rejoice about the relationships that He has brought into your life. Remember His goodness to you.
The only earthly possessions that we will enjoy in Heaven are those relationships that we share here on earth with our Christian friends and family. Value your relationships. They are God’s gift to you. Blessed Christmas!!!
-Dr. Jackie Glenny
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