There's an ocean out there

Daughter1 graduates from university in too soon and I've been waking up in the middle of the night wondering if I've imparted all the wisdom she needs for such a time as this. Probably not. Although she might say I have lectured talked her ear off. And then some. I don't think I ever really lecture but sometimes one of my daughters will say, 'Mom you don't need to lecture', so apparently I do. Lecture, I mean. These 'lectures' generally come after we've heard/witnessed someone else's bad behavior and my kids like to say, 'oh great, so and so did something stupid and now we get a lecture.' Sorry kids but yes, that's how this mother's mind works. So and so, who we barely even know or maybe know not at all, behaves badly and I immediately think, 'My kids see the problem here, right?' Let me just make sure.

Anyway, graduation...happy time. Scary time. Emotional time. A while back a friend shared this analogy with me and I like it. Alot. You (my sweet daughter) have been moving along thru the river of life, mostly floating peacefully and although there have been a few rapids along the way you essentially have had no choice but to stay within the riverbanks.

Graduation day.

Suddenly you have reached the mouth of the river although, fyi, it's not really a sudden thing at all...it just feels like it. The river opens up wide now and empties into the great big sea where boundaries are out of sight and opportunity stretches out in front of you like the horizon.

I suppose there are lots and lots of little things I want you to keep at the top of your brain as you survey the mouth of the river....

Be a good employee, on time and cheerful, willing to go that extra little bit.

Stay out of debt and live within your means which, incidentally, are not going to be the same as our means to which you have become accustomed.

ahem.

There is something very satisfying in creating your own budget, paying your own bills, and buying something you have worked and saved for.

Make doing something for others a part of your everyday life.

Thinking too much about oneself tends to make a person less grateful...less vulnerable...less loving.

Have balance.

Work and play and eat and sleep and exercise.

Too much of one and not enough of another will make you feel discombobulated.

And we both know how very much you dislike feeling discombobulated.

I could go on but then you might say I was lecturing. And I know you already know all of this and you are perhaps the sweetest, most selfless person I've had the privilege to know so I don't really need to say anything at all. Because you feel things. Deeply. And that will serve you well.

When I step back and really think hard about this milestone in your life, I realize there are actually just two things you need to remember ...

We are loving you and praying for you every single solitary day of your life.

We are your biggest fans and your greatest supporters.

And when you are turning 50 and I am turning much more than 50 that will still be true.

God knows you by name.

He knows every hair on your head.

He has a plan for your life and all you really need to do is listen.

And jump into the sea.