We’ll remember always…
Graduation day.
There’s a time a for joy, a time for tears, a time we’ll treasure through the years… And I bet many of you can access that time right now in your memories. If you can, what would the feelings be? I can think of a few.
1) It’s over. Whatever experience you had in high school or college, be it good or bad, it’s over now. You’ve written your last paper – taken your last test. There’s a strange mixture of relief and sadness – relief that it’s over, and sadness because you suddenly realize you may not see many of your friends again.
2) You will never pass this way again. As a younger person, you didn’t know this as nearly as much as you know this now, but you still had a vague sense of it. There’s an era over… a security gone… a cocoon left empty.
3) What’s next? There is an uncertain future. You’re not quite sure what to do with yourself. You’ve been working so hard on one thing and now suddenly you have finished it and your life now lacks a certain definition. Nothing’s ever going to be quite the same.
A life of faith needs to have graduation days. There are things we need to put behind us – addictions, habits, dysfunctions, sins. In fact we need more graduation days. We stick with these things way too long. We used to call people who never graduated professional students. Some of us are still student Christians when we should be teachers by now.
Come on you guys (and I’m speaking for myself here) there are too many things we’re refusing to graduate from. We need to have a little ceremony and say goodbye. We’ll have some of the same feelings of finality and uncertainty we had back then, but that’s all part of growing up.
How about you? If you had your graduation today, what would you be leaving behind? What would you be looking forward to?
So go ahead… have a little moment… sign a couple yearbooks, and get on with your life. We’ll remember always graduation day, but hopefully we’ll forget the rest as we move on to something bigger and better.
John Fischer The Catch 
Excellent thought for today! Really spoke directly to me. I am going through the pain of a divorce and I have to stop dwelling on all the hurt, deception and betrayal and graduate to the new life the Lord has planned for me! I need to let the intrusive thoughts and reliving the pain go. The Lord has great things in store for me and I have to focus on Him now. He is the source of all peace, joy and happiness.
Yes he is!
This was a good day for me to read this. Thanks.
I hope your daughter has a wonderful graduation day!
One thing we’ve graduated from is death unto life. But you know, other than salvation, I believe the most important graduation for anyone is going from boyhood to manhood and from girlhood to womanhood. Jewish folk have a ceremony in their tradition for such an occasion. Knights of old did as well, when a boy moved up from page to squire (usually around age 15), and then, again, when he moved up from squire to knight (around age 21). Other cultures have similar transitional ceremonies. Many Christian fathers today have adopted that tradition, imitating medieval knights by having rites of passage for their sons, with certain honors and responsibilities attached. (See the book Raising A Modern Day Knight and the website http://www.christianknighthood.com/ ) It’s important to celebrate and to welcome young people into new stages of life so they feel accepted and ready for the new challenges ahead. Thanks for this post, John.
Thanks for the Kick out of the Nest … if you want to Graduate go ahead but it is safe and warm and comfy here and I will think about what you said tomorrow … maybe …
Congratulations to Anne and to all of you. That is a family deal and wonderful accomplishment. You must be very proud. That kind of pride is ok, I’m sure even with the Lord! Have a spectacular weekend.
Thank you!