For Wilshire Baptist Church
Picking up debris in the yard on Tuesday afternoon following the heavy storm of earlier that morning, I came upon a red balloon trapped in the bushes. When I reached for it, it bobbed around in my hand to reveal a message printed in black and white letters with a rolled diploma and mortarboard cap: “Congrats Grads!”
Congrats grads Indeed! Whether high school or college, you’ve reached the milestone you’ve been working toward and dreaming about for a long. time. And now more than ever before, you hold the future in your own hands. Ahead of you lie plenty of opportunities, and with them, many decisions to be made. Some will be carefree and some consequential; some exciting and some gut wrenching.
Speaking of decisions, there’ve been lots to be made these past few days after those storms that cut off power and destroyed trees all over town. At one point more than half a million people in the region were without power; some like us for just a few hours, and some like both of our mothers for several days. In that environment, we had to prioritize and make make decisions about a lot of things.
As time went on, LeAnn and I had to help our mothers decide what to do without power, including what to do with all the stuff in their refrigerators and freezers. They had bacon and ground beef, ice cream and yogurt, milk and eggs, ketchup and mustard, lettuce and tomatoes, carefully labeled casseroles and mystery leftovers in plastic containers — basically everything we all have. Factors impacting decisions about what to do with it all included: available space in our fridge and freezer; what could be kept on ice in coolers; what could be cooked and consumed soon; and what could be simply put in the trash. A lot had to be thrown away, but we also enjoyed a great meal together of chicken tetrazzini and peach pie.
It’s sort of a microcosm of the many decisions we face in life regarding what we do and who we are: higher education, careers, where to live, life partners, friend and family connections, churches and faith communities, political leanings and socio-economic ties. We’re constantly making decisions about those things: when to do it, where to do it, how long to do it, and when to let it go. Sometimes we’re making decisions for ourselves and sometimes for someone else. Sometimes we get do-overs if our decisions don’t work out as hoped, and sometimes we must live with the consequences. No pressure, right? As easy as deciding what to toss from the fridge.
So, get ready graduates: The decisions are coming. It’s your time to shine. Congrats!