Grad Weekend

Grad weekend is a series of weekends this year, and, I am reminded that, once upon a time, I wrote "letters" to kids who might never read them. So...

To the graduated seniors,

Have I told you recently how proud I am of you? 

Life is complicated and messy, and high school is it's own very unique kind of a struggle. I am proud of the way that you have handled it. The ways that you have let yourself grow and change and the ways that you have stayed uniquely yourself. It isn't easy work, learning to sharpen each other, as iron sharpens iron, without slicing someone open by accident.

Because, you've had to learn that you are not weapons, not your words, not your actions, not your knowledge.

Garden shears and kitchen knives are no less sharp than swords or bayonets, but they are tools for creating, rather than for tearing down. And, you have graduated into a world that is in desperate need of building up. Orlando. Syria. Brexit. US elections that seem almost too caricatured to be true. This isn't a world that needs another weapon.

In the midst of that brokenness, live the Love and Grace and Mercy, that we couldn't possibly have spent enough hours talking about - but that I pray that you experienced and continue to experience every time that you turn around.

Church people don't always get it right. I don't always get it right. You won't always get it right. But, it is the most beautiful thing in the world to keep on trying, to live like Grace is worth it.

Grace is worth it.

Look for beauty in the midst of the mess and run towards it with everything that you have.

You know just as well as anyone that beauty is sometimes a child at Royal Family Kids Camp who wants to play kickball in a penguin costume and sometimes a day in Haiti that doesn't go as planned. Sometimes it is a brilliant sunset and sometimes it is sitting beside a friend who has had a terrible week.

Beauty is Grace and Grace is Beauty, and sometimes it is all a terrible mess, because humans are messy.

But, you aren't defined by your mess. (And, neither is anyone else.)

You are Beloved. Redeemed. Seen. Known. Loved.

You are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Powerfully Loved, and Uniquely Gifted by a God who is Great, Gracious, Glorious, and Good, and who is a calling you to a place of #freedom where you can be #changed by that great love.

Congratulations, you did the thing.

You graduated from high school, and you've got the rest of life stretched out long before you, but don't get so caught up in the big things that you forget to pay attention to the small ones. Pray just about as often as you breathe. Look for Jesus in the Bible, but also look for Him in the faces of friends and strangers.

Climb the hill. Jump in the river. Swim in the lake. Do ridiculous things just for the sake of doing them.

Make dinner with your family. Text your friends at 3:00 in the morning when you need to talk. Spend your time and your energy on other people and take time for yourself to recharge.

Love God. Love people. And, remember who you are.

I'm proud of you!