It always brings tears to my eyes when I see our students walk across the stage at graduation. I have the privilege of handing them their diplomas so my eyes meet theirs as they come towards me. Many things go through my mind at that time.
First, I am proud of them for making this accomplishment. Sometimes I am excited because I wasn’t sure they were going to make it. I always ponder the years we had together, even days before graduation.
This year our graduates were self-motivated and high achievers. They had beautiful spirits, and I have watched them grow over the years. They have especially grown this year in many ways.
Graduation is a milestone because it is like a transition in life. We have many graduations in our walk on this earth. Most of us graduate from kindergarten and high school. Many graduate from college and a few graduate with higher degrees. The other types of graduations are more significant. When we are potty trained and learn to eat independently is especially important to parents. When we pay our own bills and become independent is the graduation to adulthood. Of course, death is the most important graduation because we will no longer have the opportunity to grow spiritually on this earth and our destination to heaven or hell is established.
Graduation from high school is different from the others because it is the first time in a person’s life when they no longer have their schedule decided for them. For the first eighteen years of life, a child’s days are planned. The government requires children to be in school until they are at least sixteen. By that time, it would be foolish not to go ahead and finish up the last two years. Up to now, they have had small choices and some bigger choices when they started high school about the direction of their lives. The courses they would choose could determine what they may do when they graduated. However, their days are still planned.
What now? There are so many choices. We have devotions every day at the academy, and we try to teach our students about how important small choices are. They prepare us for the big choices. If we choose to do right in the small things, then it will not be as difficult to choose to do right in the big things.
Most of my students in the upper grades claim to be Christians. They each have a testimony of how and when they accepted Christ as Savior. Our goal is to teach them how to make those right choices. We need to use a filter when we make decisions. What is that filter? We must ask one important question.
We must ask ourselves, would Jesus be pleased with what I am doing? When a student mistreats another student, we remind them of the golden rule. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We ask them in one form or another, “Is this how you want to be treated?” This is an important lesson for growth. How will our students be able to lead others if they do not know how to treat one another? How will they be good coworkers, bosses, spouses, or parents if they mistreat people?
When a student is caught cheating or lying, we teach them about character from a very young age. Lying is a very serious thing. As all of us know, our government leaders are very good at lying and we seldom know what or who to believe. We try to teach them that their word means something. People should be able to trust what they say. We teach them about a person’s reputation and how once it is damaged, it is hard to regain trust.
There are many things we teach at the academy concerning character and the Christian walk, but we do not consider these small things. I hope that our graduates take the lessons we have tried to instill in them to heart.
The most important lesson I hope our students take with them is that the greatest success you can have is to be successful in the eyes of our Lord. How can we be successful in the eyes of our Lord?
First and foremost, we need to have asked Jesus Christ to be our Savior. Secondly, we must live for Him daily. Sound simple? There are no strings attached to becoming a Christian. It is a free gift, but when we love someone on earth, we act like it. Therefore, we should show our love to Christ all the more. We need to let the world know how much we love Him by our testimony. The words we say and the actions of our lives should exemplify Christ.
In order to let Christ live through us, we must get up in the morning and dedicate each day, hour, and minute to Christ. It is a conscious decision. We want Jesus to be pleased with what we are doing. We must ask ourselves, “How would you like me to spend this day, Lord?” I usually make a list and prioritize what needs to be done. It is important to be flexible when the Lord says, “Change in plans.”
Sometimes I get off track during the day and have to say, “I am sorry, Lord.” Whether it is a sin I committed or time that I wasted, I want to get back on track. Don’t misunderstand me. I believe the Lord allows us to spend some leisure time or time with family, but we need to be about His business.
At the end of the day, if I can look back and see that at least 90% of the day was spent how God wanted me to spend it, I feel pretty good. I always strive for the 100%, but unfortunately falling short, some days more than others.
The bottom line is that I want at the end of each day for the Lord to be pleased with my day. I want to know that I brought Him glory today. If I can bring my Savior glory through my life, then I have been successful.
If our graduates can take that lesson with them through life, they will truly be successful. If they bring God glory through their days, they will be prepared for their final graduation. Death will not be feared, and eternity will be grand. When they meet the Lord, He will say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
Please be sure you are ready for the final graduation of life. Make sure the Lord can say to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!”
Mrs. Worthington has five children and twelve grandchildren. She serves as Principal of Pathway Christian Academy in Goldsboro.