What a year to graduate!
Last evening was the graduation ceremony of a number of pretty special grads (one, in particular … she knows who she is). There are many, similar, or quite different graduation experiences going on all around … all around the world.
You, grads 2020 have worked for years to get to this end of the road … except … no one told the end of a road was an overgrown trail through the bush!
“Expectations
are the root of all heartache”
And what were your expectations at the beginning of this final school year, grads? Adventurous school trips, field trips, retreats and over-nighters? A ceremony with your friends, family and fellow grads in an event center, a church, an auditorium, a gymnasium? An evening of formality … dressed to the nines, with a special someone at your side as you walk into a room decorated to take you away to a dreamland-like destination? How about group photos? Caps through in the air in unison? The dances? The many opportunities to gather …
all together, for one last time …
These were the September expectations …
and then, the pandemic …
Everything stopped.
School stopped.
Events cancelled.
Plans turned upside down.
Grad everything in question.
Initially, everyone hoped that this pandemic would end and things could go back to normal again, that graduation events would go as planned. But … pandemic comes from the Greek pandēmos meaning all people. Covid 19 has affected, infected our world, leaving a trail of disappointment and destruction in it’s wake … so long expectations of what was to be.
“Expectations
are the root of all heartache”
Those words are attributed to William Shakespeare, but … grads, have you ever heard Shakespeare speak so clearly? Those words are a translation of what he wrote in the play All’s Well That Ends Well … now there is a theme for grad 2020!
Did it end well? Did you walk a stage, in cap and gown? Did you get to share graduation with friends and family? Did you get to dress up? Did you find creative ways to take group pictures while respecting social distancing? Did you graduate?
The expectations you had were not met, the losses are very real and there is no way to make up for those losses. It is okay to mourn the expectations of what couldn’t be.
There is no way to to redo this ending. This ending, though, also marks a beginning. High school is completed (or will be in just days) and a door to your future awaits you.
As you walk through this next door I leave with you words from the book of Isaiah, to hear from God of his compassion and hope for your future, if you trust in him.
Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God …
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:1, 28-31
itsawonderfilledlife 