Optimist Roundtable

By Martha Sykes

Lots of celebrations at this time of year as our young people graduate. Whether it be graduating from kindergarten , fourth grade, middle school, high school or college, our children are growing up pretty fast these days and they will celebrate these milestones this next week!!

It is a bittersweet week for me as my oldest grandson will be graduating on Saturday and will be off to pursue a degree at Penn State. I am so proud of him, but it is an emotional time as well. It is so true that time passes quickly and as for me, I wonder what happened to that little boy that used to carry his teddy bear around for his first few years? As parents and grandparents, we all pray for the best for our kids as we try to teach them how much Jesus loves them and pray that God will always watch over them.

It tells us in Proverbs 22:6 to “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. As a parent or grandparent, that is our hope, that whatever we have taught them and as they go out into the world, they will always believe in Jesus.

We all know it is a tough world out there today, but God is bigger than any worry we have. Our prayers will follow our young people wherever they go and whatever they do.

My favorite verse for our graduates is always the one from Jeremiah 29:11, which tells us that “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 hope and a future”.

If you will be celebrating a graduate you love, just carry a few tissues and pray for their future. God will take care of the rest!