No More Pencils (for a Little While…)
Posted on: June 26, 2014
- In: Everyday Life | Faith | Family | Parenting
- Comments Off on No More Pencils (for a Little While…)
As June winds down, so does the school year. For many students, it’s the end of elementary school or high school and time for Grade 8 or Grade 12 grad, or even college or university grad.
I’m no fan of cameras, but even I was willing to be photographed today as we celebrated my son’s Grade 8 graduation.
My son and I after his graduation ceremony
One of my favourite parts of the ceremony was the opening slide show, featuring portraits of each student in Grade 6 and in his or her grad photo. I could see the changes in the kids, especially in my son, now a handsome young man preparing to enter high school.
For those returning to the classroom in the fall, I pray that this would be a time to reenergize for the year ahead but also to take stock of the year gone by:
- How will you improve your work habits? Will you spend more time reviewing or studying?
- Will this be the year you step outside your comfort zone and join a new club or team?
- Do your friends encourage you to pursue your dreams? Do you need to find more friends who respect your values and goals?
- Do you have a vision for your life—the career you’re meant to pursue, the values that will guide your life, the people you want to be a part of it?
And for those of us who are parents, extended family, or simply other caring adults in the lives of these young people, whatever the next stage in their lives—be it high school, postsecondary education or the workforce—they need our prayers that they will make good choices and follow the path God would have them take. That they will carefully (and prayerfully) choose their friends, the people they date or marry, their courses or careers. That they will carry with them the skills and the values we’ve tried to instil in them.
As we move into the summer holidays, I pray that God would be with our children in their leisure time spent with friends and family, in their efforts to complete their volunteer hours or to catch up or reach ahead in their courses, and in their growth as people of faith.
A Catholic Convert in Ottawa 