Dear Church Family,
Every day is a window in time. It opens and then it shuts forever. There are some things that are associated with a specific day, and if they fail for some reason to take place on that specified day, they are lost because time and circumstances move on—they stop for no one.
This reality sometimes results in our missing events that are anticipated with joy and expectations – things that we really wanted to do, but which providence allowed or directed that we should miss.
So it is with the three seniors in high school who were slated to graduate this spring. Yes, they will still graduate, and yes, there will still be some celebration, virtually and otherwise, and yes, they may be able to participate in a ceremony later this summer – but we all know it’s not quite the same.
Senior trips have been missed. Special occasions have been canceled. Even missing the opportunity to hang out with friends you’ve known for a long time but may quickly lose touch with as life moves on, is difficult to handle. Last words, last moments – all missed, as each day that would have been a part of their graduation week closes and slips into the great abyss we call the past.
It happens to all of us at one time or another, but what do we do about it, how do we handle it? What can I say to these three young men losing this opportunity? Well, I only have one answer for you…
Proverbs 4:25-27 Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.
The window on this event in your lives is closing, and it has turned out like none of us could have expected at the beginning of the year. If we had told you then that a virus leaking out of China was going to cancel your senior trip, scuttle your graduation plans and push your commencement service into August, it would have seemed like a plot for some fictional movie—but it’s not—it’s your reality.
It happens to us all, however. We have some anticipated expectation of the future, but it is never realized because something never imagined happens and the opportunity is lost and the window closes.
But look! Another one is opening just ahead—tomorrow! The best way to deal with the closed window behind you is to have your eye on the open one ahead.
One has said that the teaching of the verses just quoted is simply this, act for the present and trust for the future.
Like it or not, we are all being hurried into the future. The most important thing is to get our feet on the right path now. We do that, not by looking longingly behind us, but by concentrating on what lies ahead, and carefully setting out, looking at where our next step will lead us.
Paul puts it this way,
Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
It is disappointing when expectations do not materialize as anticipated, but if we are focusing on the closed window as it slips away, we will often find ourselves utterly unprepared for the open one ahead. If we allow disappointments to cause us to be looking around instead of looking ahead, we can end up making a wrong step that will cause us to miss even greater things ahead.
Men, the window may be closing without your enjoying all the things you expected, but just ahead a new one is opening, with opportunities, blessings and challenges you may have never anticipated. The very best thing you can do is to get your eyes leveled on the future and how you will serve your Redeemer as you walk the path ahead.
Psalms 16:11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
So, congratulations men! And may God richly bless you as you move forward, eyes straight, pondering every step. We are so thankful for what God has enabled you to accomplish, for the work of Christ in your lives, and for wisdom and direction of the Spirit by the Word in your growth as Christians.
Congratulations also to Mercy Montgomery as next year she begins her own high school career. May God bless you too as you take the next big step in your life.
