Working in a high school, I have come to see the various stages of realization that high school is coming to an end, with the celebrations surrounding graduation.
In the past month, I have noted the indicators that fear is setting in with many of the grade twelve students.
Common, graduation-related stressors could be:
- I don’t know what to do, after high school.
- Did I apply to the right school? program?
- All of my friends are going ‘away’ next year.
- How will I pay for my education?
- Where will I live next year?
- What does life look like, after graduation?
- What if I don’t get into the school/program that I’m hoping to attend?
- What am I going to do with my life?
With each stressor, comes a response. Sometimes the response is action, but, often for teens (and many others), the reaction is inaction … frozen in one place, immovability … kind of like when one is trying to wake them, on a school day.
These young adults are awakening to the realization that what they have known for twelve years is coming to an end. That life, as they know it, is about to change.
They are anxious, fearful.
The Bible says much about fear and anxiety … mostly in the form of
“do not …”
God is constantly offering himself as the antibiotic for fear and anxiety. He wants us to lean on Him, because when we lean on ourselves, our foundation will not build us up, but let us fall.
What an opportunity, then during the graduation season, to help lead them to the best source of strength?
A few years ago, I had a great realization, while reading Proverbs 3:5:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
do not depend on your own understanding.”
Really it was another scripture telling me do not fear, do not be anxious, but it was even more than that. For me, this verse was reminding me that I am not able to understand, to see the happenings in my life, in that vast way that God is able. It reminded me that I need to submit to the fact that “all that I know is partial and incomplete” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
The things in life that can leave us fearful and feel anxious, could better be viewed not through the the magnifying glass of us, but the view from space that God has.
When it comes to graduation from high school, college or university, the major decisions that need to be made need to be viewed as small as they really are … they are not decisions for their whole lives, but for the next year. The changes that come may indeed rock their world, but, if they can be reminded to hold on to the One who knows how it will all fit together, they might be able to wait with anticipation and excitement, to see what God will do with the changes in their lives.
itsawonderfilledlife 