A Prayer for 2024 Grads

In this graduation season in which I have seen two grandchildren graduate high school, I have tried to remember my own graduation.  When I attempt to go there, I end up with something that reminds me of the first black and white television set my Daddy brought home.  It had a picture, but it was grainy and full of static.  Such is my memory of that momentous event fifty eight years ago.   I know it happened as there is ample evidence of it including a picture of myself, a diploma, some friends, and an annual invitation to attend a class reunion.   

As I watched this class of graduates, I wonder how this moment is for them.  Some of us thought back when I made my walk that we would change the world.  It was a dark world back then with a war in southeast Asia and social upheaval here at home.  In such a time anyone who figured on changing the world was surely one of an optimistic bunch.  Today's graduates live in a world with problems that have different names.  If this ancient baby boomer should start naming them, it might likely be a different list than the ones written by those who are walking across the stage to get a handshake and a piece of parchment.   

I pray for my grandchildren and the host of young people who are making the journey from a season that is ending to a new one that is just now beginning.  As one of my grandchildren said, "It is a bittersweet moment."  I pray they will not be afraid of new beginnings for life can be defined as thousands of short seasons each with an ending and a beginning.  Every morning is a new beginning.  I pray, too, that they will find a faith in God that is like a rock, not a small pebble, but a huge boulder.  May it be solid enough to be unbreakable and big enough to prevail when the next new beginning seems more like shadows than sunshine.  Whether or not they are able at the end to remember the beginning steps with God on the journey He has planned for them, I pray when the end is near, they will know it has been a good journey filled with the realities of love and grace and promises of eternity.