My second son graduated from high school today.
He stood there, in cap and gown, shoulders broad and strong like his dad’s. He walked across the platform, stride long and easy, while I smiled and held the hand of my little one and tried with mama-strength not to go soft inside.
This was the boy I’d swaddled and sang to when the rest of our world had gone quiet. I’d bandaged his knees and kissed salty tears and cheered at his ball games. When his daddy let go of the two-wheeler bike and this boy took off of his own wobbly wheels, I hollered from the drive. He and I danced in the living room while he stood on my feet, and I read to him until his breath fell even. And I chased my share of baseballs over the green grass of our back yard.
I’m not alone in this stretching.
Facebook is full of beautiful smiles, ceremonies and children grown up and there is a fresh tide of young people ready to make a fresh mark on a worn world.
It happens so quickly.
But this time is not really about looking back. It’s about new beginnings.
As I sat at the commencement ceremony, thinking of the new beginnings for these students, I understood that the most significant, valuable new beginning we’ll ever experience on this earth is when we claim a new beginning through Jesus Christ.
Scripture tells us that when we, in faith, receive Him as Lord and Savior, we are a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17). The old is gone. The new is come! The slate is wiped clean. Sins are removed.
We’re able to live unshackled and free because of the righteousness of Jesus. And when we live in His grace, knowing that we are fully accepted and fully pleasing, it’s possible to grasp new-beginning living every single day.
READ MORE: TRACES OF GOD’S LOVE
We remember where we’ve been, and that brings gratitude.
But then we’re able to move forward, living as new creations, stepping into what, in Christ, all that we are and all that we will become.
New-beginning grace is empowering. It brings a desire to love others, to forgive, to serve, to extend mercy, and to share the life-saving gospel of Christ.
Beginnings are powerful.
Beginnings are precious.
After the ceremony, Grant joined the family and we posed for pictures. We took turns standing beside our graduate, and then we all crowded together for a few frames. My son smiled a broad smile and his blue eyes were joyful.
It was a day for remembering the past.
And for reaching into new beginnings, too.
