I’ve never been to a home school high school graduation before. As opposed to having 300 students on a football field, the 9 graduates are in our church sanctuary. The highlight of the event, the moment when I feel an overwhelming sense of God’s presence, is when each student is given their diploma.
In any ceremony I’ve been to this is where a long list of names is read. You only sincerely care about a handful of kids, but you have to listen to the whole long list. The monotony is broken only by occasional obnoxious people who have the courage (or lack of discretion) to scream something insane. Then you cheer for people you know, because you don’t want them to be the one whose name is followed by silence.
But this home school graduation ceremony is different. Rather than having their names read, these grads are joined by their parents on the platform. Each father has a couple minutes to share a blessing over their child. It's personal and powerful, and I am caught up at times with emotion. It is a deep spiritual time, reminding me of Biblical blessings I have read about. I find myself longing to write words of blessing for my own kids.
What if we were to bless our children more often? What if we were to write letters and share words that would affirm and lift them up? What if we were to be more intentional to empower others to greater things by our words and actions? What if we took advantage of a mile stone like graduation to pass on a blessing along with a diploma? But then, why wait for graduation? I’ll bet we could find many excuses to give a blessing if we got creative.
Jesus took the children up in his arms, and blessed them… Mark 10:16
Posted on
Thu, May 21, 2009
by Chris Spitters