My son graduated from high school yesterday. It was a great day! Truth be told, I cried much more the last day of kindergarten than I did at his high school graduation celebrations. I think I knew way back then that the "letting go" was beginning all those years ago--not just yesterday.
I am thankful to my Savior, my Guide, my Lord--Jesus Christ--who guided my footsteps as a mom.
I am thankful to my gem of a husband who is level-headed, God-fearing, super-talented, brilliantly smart, strikingly handsome, and tenderly kind for helping raise our boy to become the young man he has become. He has so many of your characteristics and for that I am grateful.
I am thankful to family--grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and adopted sisters (Ashley, Melissa, & Amanda). You have poured into our son's life from his earliest years and made an impact in his life where we, as parents, could not.
I am thankful to friends who lightened our parenting load (even though it has not been heavy). You have made the hard times easier and the fun times much more fun.
I am thankful to our church for re-emphasizing what we were trying to teach at home--that having a relationship with Jesus is our highest joy, the fulfillment of our deepest longings. Thank you pastors, Sunday School teachers, and church body. Thank you for helping teach him to listen to God's Word and that serving Jesus is what matters.
I am thankful for the most precious of schools, the perfect fit for our son--The King's Academy in Seymour, Tennessee. I visited lots of schools in our area before his kindergarten year. I just knew you were the one for our family upon my first visit. Our son has grown in all areas (academically, socially, emotionally, physically, and spiritually) because of the investment of your administration, faculty, staff, and students.
And to my son--I am thankful that you have been an "easy" child. Because of that, I have been able to hold down many other ministries to which God has called me. I attempted to make your dad and you my most important ministry/calling/job (whatever you want to call it!). And because you, my son, have brought me so much joy and not grief, I was able to reach out and minister to others. Thank you so much for allowing me to fulfill other ministries/callings/jobs.
Son, I'm so glad you "get it"! And I hope you never forget it or lose hold of it--choose life! Choose Jesus--today, tomorrow, and everyday for the rest of your life. Sadly, some of your classmates have not yet chosen life over death and the blessing over the curse. Keep on loving them. Keep on praying that they will choose life so that they may truly live.
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them." Deuteronomy 30:19-20
