Monday’s Musings: Remembering Graduation

Isaiah 41:10  Fear not, for I am with you;  be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you,  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Philippians 4:13  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Today is Commencement Day for Emory University.  I thought back five years to the day I sat among other graduating students on the Quad both eager and anxious about what was to come after that day.  Then I thought back to three years before that when I entered Candler School of Theology and two years before that when I entered Reinhardt University to finish my undergraduate degree.  I had so many doubts.  After all I had been out of school for over thirty years.  I had been a good student before, but did it still have it?  Frankly I worried if my brain was spry enough and if I could balance work, school and family.  However I had one thing on my side that pretty much guaranteed my success.  God had called me to become a pastor and school was part of the process of getting there.  I know beyond a shadow of doubt that God was with me during those years and it is only by the grace of God that I graduated from both institutions with high grades.  I had a discussion with our son yesterday about how to tell someone who doesn’t attend church about God.  I said to witness about the strength God has given and the ways we’ve felt God in our lives.  There is no greater proof of the existence of the Divine than personal experience. 

Holy God, thanks for being with me during my school years.  We pray for those graduating from colleges and universities this year and ask that you continue to touch your children’s lives so that they, too may testify to your love and the strength you provide. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Have a Blessed Week!
Paige