Graduation and Growing Up

 

This past Sunday was Graduation Sunday at our church. We celebrated just shy of a dozen high school graduates and honored a few others who have finished higher education degrees over the past year. It was a sweet service; our youth pastor offered a great message, and I’m pretty sure most of us cried our way through The Blessing at the end. We came forward to pray over our graduates and their families, and then everyone scattered for graduation ceremonies and subsequent parties.

                I wrote notes to all our graduates. Some of them know me, others don’t, but I wanted to offer each of them some Scripture that I hoped would settle into their minds as they take their next steps toward their chosen forevers. For some, that’s college. For others, entering a trade. Some are probably still figuring out what’s next – and I wouldn’t be surprised if a few changed their minds along the way. That’s what growing up is all about, after all.

                I watched the video that featured their favorite verses, lessons, and advice and enjoyed getting to know them better through hearing them share. Their words reminded me of my own thoughts and hopes not quite 30 years ago when I graduated from high school and looked ahead to my own future.

                I had no clue that day, of course, what my own life would hold. I didn’t know I’d grow up to try out a handful of careers. I didn’t know I’d marry a guy I already knew from that very school. I didn’t know I’d write real books. I didn’t know I’d come to enjoy cooking and hospitality.

                Perhaps I would have had much hope if I could have peeked into the future and seen the Bekah of 30 years down the road. Yet perhaps seeing this Bekah would have been too much of a spoiler for that Bekah. The parts of the road that made me who I am today were too much for graduating Bekah to handle.

                I’d never want to go back. Some do, I know. Some people loved high school and would return in an instant to relive the friendships and the activities. I was grateful to be done and have no desire to return.

                But I am thankful for the winding road of growing up that brought me where I am today. And I hope each of the graduates who stood on our church platform on Sunday and crossed school platforms that afternoon to collect a diploma will also one day appreciate the winding road of growth that will lead them from where they are now to who they will become.