Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Charlie Brown, in the late Charles Schultz’s “Peanuts” cartoon has given us his definition of happiness.  Charlie Brown says that happiness is a warm puppy or happiness is winning an argument with your sister or happiness is knowing the right answer in school.

I would venture a step further, as I’m sure some of you would, and say that happiness is graduation.  I read about a young fellow who had a great deal of difficulty completing the requirements for graduation but finally succeeded.  While he was joyfully awaiting the final ceremony and his diploma, he received this note from an aunt.  “Please let me know the date of your graduation, so I can send a token of my astonishment!”

I suppose this article is something of a “baccalaureate” but it will certainly apply to all of us regardless of our station in life.

To begin, let me congratulate all graduates.  Graduation is a milestone, and you are to be congratulated upon reaching this significant moment in your life and in the life of your family.  In your transition from student to graduate, our nation is once again blessed with renewed creativity and the blessing of youthful idealism.  But keep in mind, that graduation is a commencement.  To commence is not to end but to begin.  Just want to mention a few thoughts for a better future.

First, recognize the importance of attitude!  When I lived in Columbus, Lou Holtz, the legendary football coach, came and addressed the leaders of one of the banks.  Among other things, he spoke of how his attitude had been critical in the handling of the ups and downs of his life and career.  The coach went on to say that “without the proper attitude you have no chance.”

Personally, the longer I live the more convinced I am that that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it.  The most significant decision I make everyday is my choice of attitude and the same will be true for you.

Second, don’t lose sight of your character!  Who you are is far more important than what you do, have or accomplish.  Jesus was speaking of this when he said, “For what will it profit a person, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?” (Matthew 16:26).  The late minister, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, said that we should always ask ourselves three questions about any business transaction. Is it legal?  Is it balanced?  Will it make me feel good about myself?  That’s character or integrity that  Dr. Peale was talking about.

Third, live open to others!  Keep in mind that the fellowship of human beings is more important than the fellowship of race, gender, party or anything else.  Be decent and fair and kind and insist that others do so in your presence.  It is said that if the noted Methodist leader John Wesley had died before his 37th birthday, his name would not even have been a footnote in a history book.  Why?  Because it was after his 37th birthday that his passion for truth became a compassion for people and after that he was effective.

Fourth, be willing to change!  In a world that is so rapidly changing we must also be flexible and willing to change.  Someone has suggested that perhaps it would help us if we would allow ourselves to re-graduate every four years.  Celebrate what we have done.  Admit what we are not doing. Think about what is really important to us and make changes.  That’s a healthy way to make the most out of our lives.

Finally, stay in touch with your Source!  As a girl was cleaning her dorm room one day, when she was in college she came across a small Bible with a white leather cover on it.  It had been a gift to her from the aunt of a young man that she had dated for quite some time.  Undoubtedly, the aunt had thought the Bible would go nicely with a wedding bouquet someday.  But the Bible wasn’t going to be used that way because that girl had ended the relationship.  So, she held the Bible up to her roommate and asked, “What am I going to do with this?”   Her roommate looked at her and wryly said, “Why don’t you read it?”  The Bible that is most dear to me personally is not the one on the shelf or that is old, it is the one I have read and continue to read.  It is in its pages that I have sensed the presence of God and the reality of life.  And the same will be true for you.

Again, congratulations on your monumental achievement of graduation!  We are proud of all of you!