By Virginia Frances Teel
Class of 2023
As college began to dwindle to a close and I embarked on senior year marked by “lasts'' and overflowing with “final this” and “final that,” I began to reluctantly anticipate graduation and the loss that would undoubtedly coincide with it. As my friends and I walked through our many “lasts” of college, I began to pinpoint why I was feeling such a severe sense of loss; it was a loss of community. My campus was beautiful, my apartment was sentimental, but my relationships were by far the most dear. Whether it be college or camp, moving or maturing, growing up or watching your loved ones grow old, life changes are hard!
The summer before beginning the Charlotte Fellows Program, I found myself caught between feelings of excitement and a simultaneous sense of deep longing to be back with the people I love the most. I would have never guessed what was waiting for me in just a couple of months.
While I expected a busy schedule and lots of new faces, I was certainly not prepared for how God would greet me in Charlotte with such sweet community. Through host families, mentors, directors, board members, bosses, teachers, students, neighbors, and everyone in between, I have been blown away by the fullness of His love that is to be experienced in relationships.
I feel most fortunate to get to serve alongside newfound friends that are equally humbled by the Lord’s generous gift of relationship. A verse that comes to mind when I think about these first few weeks in Charlotte is Ephesians 3:20-21.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
And the best part? That sense of loss following graduation is steadily transforming into that of gain. I am learning that I don’t have to give up one community to invest in another, but can continue to pour out wherever I am because God’s infinite love is a source that will never run dry. The Charlotte Fellows Program has quickly given the other Fellows and myself the outlet to both give and receive relationally. I am immensely grateful for the friendships that are already forming within this next chapter and equally delighted by the opportunities God has given us to impact our new Charlotte community.