The Magical Aisle
My graduating class stood at the front of the event pavilion, eagerly anticipating the end of our 12-year journey. It was a beautiful August afternoon in Cadott, Wisconsin, and we were ready to receive our high school diplomas, close this chapter of our education, and open the next one to our future. This was a day that we had all been looking forward to for many years, and it was finally here!
It was August 15, 2020, in a small outdoor event pavilion where our friends and family gathered to celebrate our high school graduation. Excitement was high in the air as my classmates and I talked among each other, eagerly awaiting the ceremony to commence. Finally, “Pomp and Circumstance”, the classic graduation tune, rang through the pavilion and we began filing down the aisle. It was the day that I will never forget. With a disappointing senior year behind us due to unforeseen circumstances, we were now looking to the bright future that lay directly before us as our graduation tassels switched sides. As Jared, our designated class speaker said in his graduation speech “Wow, it has been a long and tiring last couple of months. But with an amazing God and friends by our side, we are all here celebrating an end to something we started 12, going on 13, years ago. The end of one chapter, but the beginning of the next.” Many “Congratulations!” and hugs from our family and friends were exchanged as we threw our graduation caps up into the air and walked back down the aisle as now-graduated individuals. It seemed to me as if the aisle we physically walked down that day was magical, as it marked the beginning of a new chapter. With all the required schooling behind me, I was looking ahead to the plans I had for myself in the upcoming years.
Of course, graduation day is an enormous milestone for anyone, but this ceremony was a pure miracle for us graduates. When May 9, our graduation ceremony day, came around, an unpredictable situation came up that removed all possibilities of allowing us to have our ceremony as previously planned. The tears and disappointment that flowed from this cancellation were almost unbearable. We reminded each other of Jeremiah 29:11, which says "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" By God’s grace, the group of graduates came together and decided to reschedule our graduation ceremony. Although it was directly before most of us would be heading off to college and our new journey, we were able to squeeze this important ceremony in together before we went our separate ways.
As I stood up in the event pavilion that beautiful August afternoon in front of all my friends and family, I could not help but dream about what the future years would hold and what God was going to do in my life. Walking down that seemingly magical aisle, I was ending my 12-year journey, but I was just stepping out into the journey of a lifetime.
No comments:
Post a Comment