Great Plains Daily Devotional for 6/5/2021

Once “Pomp and Circumstance” begins to play
your life flashes before my eyes
and the tears begin to flow down my cheeks.
It’s all I can do to keep from ugly crying.

I remember the very day you were born
and a crowd of friends and family
gathered outside your hospital room nervously
awaiting your birth when the special team is called.

And when we finally heard a cry so weak
we prayed more intensely for you
knowing your angel Calvin watched over you
and the Light of Christ shone upon you.

I remember your baptism day when
each family member anointed you
with oil before the water was poured over
your tiny head. Grandson, God has claimed you!

The years of jokes coming out of nowhere
reveal the humor that always gets you through
and continues this graduation day because
that’s how you see the most ordinary of things.

As the band leads the graduates out
part of me wants to hold you in my arms again.
We’re as proud as can be that you are a good, kind,
and whole man who loves life and knows whose he is.

Life is full of threshold moments. Some major ones include baptism, confirmation, graduations, wedding, birth, career changes, and the big one one of leaving this earth for eternal life. Last weekend was graduation day in the Omaha and Millard school systems. We celebrate our own graduates from Saint Paul, and it is wonderful to hear the parting words from one, “See you at church!”

You may be celebrating one of these moments in your life, too. There are expectations that people will do things in a prescribed order but often that doesn’t occur. Life can take us on an unexpected trajectory and that’s what makes each lifespan unique and beautiful.

One of the most memorable baptisms I was asked to perform was for a 92-year woman. She lay in a hospital bed and a nurse stood by as a witness. Even though her family didn’t understand her desire, she had always wanted to be baptized and she decided this was the time.

Graduations stir up all kinds of special memories of good times and sharing of struggles. Although we could never have guessed the first eighteen years of this year’s graduates’ lives, it’s fun to imagine what their lives might be like in the future. All that we really know is that their lives will be full of twists and turns, there will be happy times and difficult ones, choices will be made, and their strengths will be revealed as time goes on.

-Rev. Marta Wheeler
Omaha Saint Paul Benson
mwheeler@greatplainsumc.org
 

Prayer for Reflection