I love graduation. Every year it makes me cry as I look at the kids I've nurtured and watched mature over the few years that I've known them achieve a milestone in their lives, a night they will never forget. I also become very pensive, in a good way, as I take stock over the past school year and all of the changes that have happened since August, only a few short months ago.
Every year, I see maturity in new ways as I, myself, become more mature. I see more, now, of what the kids will need to know and the tools and resources they'll need to have as the move on into a world that is at once both terrible and wonderful. They have so much and so little. Some of them have overcome great obstacles to be able to graduate, while others seemed to soar through this part of their lifelong education. Still, even those who achieved all the scholarships and awards had things to overcome that made their rewards all the sweeter.
Yet, whether they grew up with all they needed to flourish or not, they arrived at this point, graduation day, together. And now they have the chance to move into a future and make of it what they will. It is up to them to decide how they will use the resources that are in their proverbial toolbox. While some may think it is unfair that some kids have more tools than others, I know that it is the pleasure of Yahweh my Father to give them all things, and while they may not have what everyone thinks they need, Yahweh doesn't have to give everyone the same thing to give everyone the best thing. Each child, in Yahweh's hand, has been given their best chance to reach Him. And I know He is with them wherever they go.
I like to look back at my own growth and development over this school year as well. I am never the same person in May as I was in August. I'm a little older, a little wiser, and so in some ways I feel like I graduate all over again each May as I see what Yahweh has done through me this year. There are the victories I see in my students: maturity, enhanced writing ability, the potential to continue prospering next year. There are the victories in my personal life: moving into a house, buying a new car. Then, there are the most important things, the victories I've reached with Yahweh. Things that have been established in me by Him, never to be torn asunder.
Growing is hard, sometimes, like when you work out a muscle so that it is stronger than it was when you started. It aches and burns as you stretch it out, but one day, that move you've been doing for weeks, months, or even years that used to make you cringe and ache with pain is easy. And then it's time to try a new move, grow a little more. We have infinity, after all, to reach.
This year I've learned a lot with Yahweh. I've increased in so many ways. And I'm grateful. Nights like tonight make me stand back in awe of the entire spectrum of human experience. I watched children graduate whose mothers died two years ago, others who clawed their way out of poverty to achieve top rankings and high scholarships. I saw children who excelled in public speaking, those who went to state tournaments in sports, and those who can play any musical instrument like a virtuoso. I saw those who barely scraped a passing grade and those who just kept their heads down and tried to get through it, ranking somewhere in the middle of the class. I saw an ending and a new beginning. And all of it was beautiful.
All of it is beautiful. In these moments, I can almost understand a small part of the beauty of Yahweh's plan of redemption. That each of us, no matter how we start or where we end up, have been given our best chance to get back to Him. That we all must go through trials, but we all have joyful triumphs. The whole wide spectrum of the Human Experience makes me dizzy with awe and wonder.
And My Father created all of this! Oh the joy set before Him that He shares so generously with me. HalleluYah!
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