Most of us think of life in stages. Getting married is one. Having kids is another. But perhaps the first and seemingly most significant one is graduation. I remember how much I looked forward to my high school graduation. From senior pranks to pseudo study periods, the only thing that mattered was making it across the stage that day.
Of course, graduation isn’t euphoric for everybody. Parents, for one, vacillate between feelings of pride and grief as they contemplate a “new normal” without their precious child at home. To parents it feels like an unnatural phenomenon. For years, parents rack their brains on how to get closer to their children, and then with one piece of paper they must suddenly learn how to let them go.
What we’ve tried to do at Eastmont is to view graduation not in terms of leaving, but rather in terms of sending. Our hope, prayer, and mission is to prepare each graduate in their spiritual understanding so that while they go on to further education or vocation, more importantly, they go on mission. We believe that God guides their steps in such a way that even if they must attend their “backup” school, they are right where they needed to be all along.
After all, Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:18-20 were not reserved for vocational missionaries alone. They were meant for us all. We send these students to go into their schools (or their workplaces) to make disciples of all nations. We’ve loved them, served them, taught them, and challenged them but now we must send them. God has greater plans for them than we do. But remember, we do not send them out alone, they go equipped with the indwelling Holy Spirit. Take a moment today to pray for our graduates and their families. But don’t just pray for comfort, pray for fruit.