Caring Heart: High School Graduation

In homes all across the country it is the season for this meditation:

High School Graduation

Today she will graduate from high school.  Can it be?  There were times I wasn't sure that we would make it here.  Toes when I thought she might make it, but not with us.  She seemed so determined to fight against herself, against us, against life. It was such a battle to keep her in school and headed toward graduation. So many times that other experiences and activities seemed ever so much more attractive to her than attending class, much less studying.  But she IS graduating today!  Lord, thank you for this day. The past is done and now she will graduate.  Her future is still full of too many unknowns to count, but she has made it to this day, and she IS graduating. High school graduation is such a milestone.  It is a beginning.  It is a door to more possibilities. The past days have been full of tension, frustration, and more. But today we are united in joy, in pride, in celebration.  She is graduating today!
    

Excerpted from "The Caring Heart Speaks: Meditations for foster, kinship, and adoptive parents" by Gail Underwood Parker   Artwork by Anna Parker David from the book cover.