Graduations

Pomp and Circumstance, the traditional graduation processional, echoed outside my door a few days ago. A local high school presides over the entire block across the street, so I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was hearing their rehearsal for this year's big day

But graduation already? Didn't we just celebrate Christmas?

This whole sense of time moving faster as we get older carries a good sized chunk of truth. I'm celebrating my fiftieth birthday this year and it was an equally surprising event the day that the first piece of literature arrived in my mail box from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). How did they find me so fast? Turning fifty isn't particularly traumatic to me and, in fact, it feels quite nice to consider how many years I have managed to enjoy so far, but it seems a more private matter, an important piece of my journey that I want to preserve and shape for myself with no interference from outside sources. Perhaps the good folks at AARP were simply not aware of my wishes, and if they were, I am sure they would have held back a little until I was ready to receive their grand offers of value-priced health insurance, travel discounts and spa treatments that will keep me looking younger than they already know I am.

So here I am, reflecting back on some remembered high points: my high school, college and seminary graduations, first meetings with friends who are still a part of my life ten, twenty and thirty years later, great loves gained and lost. Quite frankly, though, I don't remember many of the details of any of these moments that have impacted my life in profound ways. I do have a few cherished stories, but even those don't make up the bulk of what has transpired to be a rich and happily-lived life. What I do know is that appreciating how my education, relationships and accomplishments inform my life now matters more to me and keeps me stepping in rhythm with God on what I believe to be spiritual journey.

Biblical references to life and cultural graduations and transitions are abundant. The Israelites headed out for the Promised Land and kept on going. Moses snagged the Ten Commandments, led his people out of Egypt and they still kept going. Forty years in the wilderness, learning what it meant to live as God's people outside the framework of slavery was a daunting task, but they did it. The New Testament continues the saga of God's people facing issues of relational quality,

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