Senior Sunday

I'm home for a few minutes before we have a special night for our seniors at church. We have one, my cousin Chance, which is fun for me. We have decorated the activity building with the help of several volunteers. Kristi has done a GREAT job delegating and pulling it all together.

All the excitiement reminded me of when I was a senior in highschool and could hardly wait to run out the door to college. So many things change at this monumental time in a person's life. The last thing I was too concerned with was the loss that I know my parents must have felt. I was so sure of my future, so confident, enthusiastic about God and eager for tomorrow. I was surrounded by friends and family and enjoyed so much laughter! I think I miss the laughter the most. The laughing for no reason at all. The silliness that brought you tears and gut wrenching pain because the laughter was more than you could bear... that's the kind of laughter I miss. Laughing with delight and completeIy clueless about the real world. The world I lived in seemed so perfect! Wouldn't it be the same, or even better, once I was on my own, in college, and free to... have a dorm curfew every night?!?!

Well, I must say that I may not have that kind of laughter in my day to day life anymore, but I think one thing I do have is peace. A deep peace in my future with my heavenly Father. A peace that understands this world is not my home and that I truly am just passing through. The expectations I have in this world are so pointless compared to what God has planned for me. The spiritual joy that life in Christ brings is so much more meaningful than worldly things. Peace is what I have.

When you don't know if you will ever walk again with out pain. Peace. When your heart has been broken by death and despair. Peace. When noone else seems to understand the burden that life has given you. Peace. When the emptiness of your home without children screams so loudly it is all you hear. Peace. When you are blessed with huge miracles in your life (Myra) that are so overwhelming it makes you feel incapable. Peace. When loneliness creeps in and you wish you had a few friends to share some painful, tear jerking laughs with... peace fills the heart.

God has given me a sense of peace that only a little dose of "life" could help create.

As I see these seniors on the brink of a new journey, I can't help but woder what dose "life" will bring their way. What will replace the carefree laughter in ten years? What will God show them and teach them as they walk in faith to their future? I don't want to sound depressing with the thoughts of losing the laughter. I don't mean there won't be laughter, but if you truly think about it, laughter has so much more meaning now than it did then. It doesn't come as easily as it did when the only thing on the calender was when to see friends, when to eat, when to sleep, and when to wash my hair.