As graduation season sweeps in with its caps, gowns, and celebrations, it’s hard not to feel a mix of pride, nostalgia, and perhaps even a tinge of loss. Whether your child is wrapping up preschool or finishing high school, there’s something universally bittersweet about an event we call commencement. It’s a word we often associate with endings—but by definition, commencement means a beginning.
Each new season of life contains both an ending and a new beginning–and parenting is full of these moments. They start as tiny transitions: the last time you hold your child in your lap, the moment they stop needing your hand to cross the parking lot. Before you know it you’re watching a capable young adult walk a stage with a diploma in hand. These changes are so small we don’t notice them until they’ve already slipped past.
That’s one of the sacred and difficult truths of parenting: you can’t go back. There are no do-overs or mulligans. Time only moves forward. And while that can be achingly hard—it’s also part of what makes each stage precious. With every year that passes, we get to witness our children’s bodies, minds, and hearts becoming who God made them to be.
So while it is important to teach our kids to finish well—It’s also important to show them what it looks like to begin well. To commence. To face a new chapter with hope, trusting that God is writing a good story, even when can’t read the next page yet.
As we mark the milestones and watch our kids step into what’s next, may we be parents who begin again and again with joy, with faith, and with hope.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” —Romans 15:13.