Graduation Day
It seems like it was only yesterday when I was staring through the window of a hospital newborn nursery. I was looking at one of the five most beautiful babies ever born (yes, I am prejudiced). He was our first grandchild, and I was so in love with him that I told the hospital cleaning lady that she needed to come with me to see him!
Last Saturday tears of joy and pride (and a little sadness) streamed down my face as I heard “Pomp and Circumstance” being played and watched that young man walk into an arena to graduate from high school. Could eighteen years have passed so quickly?
If you follow most of us on Facebook you have seen the pictures and videos of that very important day in the life of our family (sorry for the overload).
I’ve so enjoyed looking at the pictures from many of you of your very special graduates. Some from preschool, kindergarten, middle school, high school, and those ever-important pictures of college graduates. We all know the hours of anguish and work that have gone into reaching these points in life.
It made me begin to think about graduations in general and the emphasis we put on these earthly ceremonies. Please don’t think that I am trying to take away from your joy and happiness when one of our own comes to one of these milestones. I have enjoyed every moment of our celebration. However, these graduations are earthly. They are important milestones to be sure, but they are still earthly ceremonies.
There are some milestones in life that are of much more importance than these graduation ceremonies. I hope you will bear with me as I share my thoughts with you.
Rearing our children in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” is of far more significance than their earthly training. What a great “graduation” when you realize that your child has his or her own faith and it is no longer just an extension of your parental faith. When they stand up on their own for what is right according to God’s word, that is something to really celebrate.
When that child, who has been trained by their parents in both words and actions, comes to the knowledge of needing to be baptized into Christ to have their sins forgiven, what a spiritual celebration there is both here on earth and in heaven.
And do I need to remind you that the greatest “graduation” is yet to come for those of us who are here on this side of eternity – that graduation to our heavenly home when this life is over. All that we do here on this earth – our obedience to God and our speech and actions in this life – should be aiming us toward that final “graduation.” Then we can truly celebrate for all eternity.
There is a beautiful song that our family likes to sing when we are together. The song is entitled “Homecoming Day,” and the words to the chorus serve beautifully to sum up my thoughts:
Yes, I will rise and join all the saints gone on before
I’ll sing up there and praise Him for aye.
The greatest joy will be Jesus to love and adore.
Yes, it will be a great homecoming day.
The Holy Spirit says it even better than that in Paul’s letter to the young man Timothy:
“As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”
1 Timothy 6:17-19, emphasis added
We’re proud of our graduates, but we will be even more proud if you live a life that takes you to this final, joyous graduation.
Congratulations graduates.
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AUTHOR: Donna Faughn
