3 OPENING FOREWORD The year 2020 came as an invitation addressed to each of us. Another semester, a fresh year, an unspoiled decade. As a community, we tore at the envelope for a peek at our future, hopeful that it might hold something special. But if we had seen the world as it was going to be: separated, sick and scared, perhaps we would have rejected the invitation altogether. Spring 2020 turned to summer without warning. Classes went online, relationships were distanced and plans were canceled. It was unprecedented, and a fear of the unknown passed through each of us as COVID-19 spread across the globe. But we were not discouraged. We accepted the challenges, for we know that they are invitations to grow stronger. We endured the discomfort, for we recognize that it is an invitation to change for the better. We spread good news and smiled under masks, for we believe that hope is an invitation to victory. As students, our college experience begins with an inkling of who we’re going to be, but there is an element of surprise that follows and a series of invitations that we choose to accept. Classrooms and coursework invite us into an environment of learners. Churches and chapel invite us into a congregation of faith. Peers and professors invite us into a circle of conversation. Harding University invites us into a community of mission. We are living in a time of uncertainty. The world is not as it was, nor will it remain as it is forever. But we are here now. These challenges are our challenges, and these victories are our victories. We are the recipients of an invitation to make this time our own, and together we will step into the future, looking forward to a celebration. This is the invitation: it’s yours and it’s mine. We are all invited. Holly Tubbs Editor-in-Chief OPE ING
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