A Graduation Message to Our Twins

Dear Jessica and Jonathan,

 

Nineteen years ago, Dad got up on a Sunday morning and announced to the church that we had a “visitor” who was coming to stay with us for eighteen years, due to arrive that fall.  We later learned that our “visitor” was bringing a friend to join us for that eighteen year sojourn.  And now your rooms are overflowing  with suitcases, mountains of clothes, electronics,  and last-minute projects.  Amazingly, much faster than any of us anticipated, your odyssey here is closing as you embark on a new adventure. 

 

My mind races back to those early days of homeschool.  Printed alphabet letters on the wall, fat crayons, and numbers charts marked the beginning of that long era.  And every day, we started out with a Bible verse.  Do you remember it?  “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, DO IT with thy might!”  You would pound your little fists on the table for emphasis, as though noise could factor in and increase your determination to master cursive writing and those infamous flash cards that almost brought all three of us to tears. 

 

And that is the sermon I hand back to you, and entire education later:  “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do DO IT with thy might!”

 

You already know that this world is teeming with smart, athletic, beautiful, and charismatic people.  They finish seasons with trophies, and they garner publicity and praise just for being attractive or funny.  But you may be surprised to learn that the future does not automatically grant its custody to the gifted.  The future belongs to the determined, to those willing to invest resourcefully with whatever small gift they brought into this world, and to keep going.  And going.  And going.  The future belongs to the ones willing to get back up on Monday morning. 

 

If I could give you one tool that would embolden you to stand back up when the world wants to flatten you; to talk yourself into finishing when the entire universe tells you to quit; to defy the circumstantial evidence that would invite you to despair, and to rise again into victory, it would be this:  Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. 

 

Do you hear the little fists pounding the table?  With all thine heart.  With all thy might.  Of all the missions you will face in this next adventure, the most important is this one thing:  Trust in the Lord.  If you pour your zeal, and every last ounce of determination into trusting the Lord, you will find the strength in Him to run your race “with all thy might.”  It starts with trusting the Lord.

 

Trust Him when you are on top of your game, when you have the world by the tail.  Some of life’s most unexpected turns lurk in those sunny days when we think nothing could touch us.  “Lean not on thine own understanding.”

 

Trust Him when things go wrong.  Trust Him when all your plans seem to dissolve, and when you don’t know what to do next. 

 

Trust Him when you feel the security and ease of having plenty.  Trust God enough to give back to Him rather than hoarding the resources He has blessed you with. 

 

Trust Him when money is scarce, when you don’t know how you will pay bills.  God “pleadeth the cause of the poor.”  You can trust Him to supply your needs.  Your greatest victories  in life will often start with a story of “need.” 

Trust Him when you are injured.  Trust Him to give you charity for those who hurt you—by their words, by their silence, by their actions.  Trust Him to teach you how to love your enemies, how to pray for your abusers.  Remember what they said about Jesus when He hung on the cross?  “He trusted God.”  Let your enemies suspect the same of you. 

 

Trust Him when you need wisdom.  Jesus is not just a supporting actor in your play.  He wrote the play.  Follow His script.  Let Him tell you what to do next.  

 

Trust Him to enable you to do right.  Every failure of character we experience is the result of self-dependence.  Faith is your shield. 

 

Wherever God’s will takes you in this next great adventure of life, trust Him with all your heart, with all your might. 

 

“He it is that doth go with thee.  He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” 

 

We love you and count it an honor to be your parents!