With permission, I share some pictures and thoughts of the next person who walked across the stage this past week. My child walked across the stage and received his high school diploma from RJ Reynolds High School – class of 2024. It wasn’t an easy task for him to get to this point or for us to help him get to this point.
He’s such an amazing kiddo yet he doesn’t always see that in himself. Earlier last month he said “Mom the papers you showed me a several months ago? They showed that my birth mother and father didn’t get more than 10th grad.” Tears began to well up inside of me as he shared he would be a first generation to graduate and how he never thought that he would do it either. Welph! I tried to tell him that he was raised in a different environment and with parents (and many others) who believed he could do anything he wanted to do. We believed in him, even when he didn’t believe in himself.
His birth parents at the time hadn’t been able to do much with their lives for some circumstances they had no control over, and perhaps some they did – we will never know. However, I never doubted for a moment Zachary would walk across that stage and do what he wanted to do.
He said, “Well, I’m not at the top of my class; I don’t want to attend a 4-year college”. I asked, “Have you done your best”? Yes, he replied, and I said you know that’s all we’ve ever asked of you. You can be successful no matter whether you are a 4-year college or not.
As graduation approached, it was awesome to watch excitement wash over him. When he could let his guard down and his fear of not making it – his heart and whole being filled with joyful anticipation. He was doing it – no, my sweet boy, you did it!
He will be attending Forsyth Tech and will continue with his automotive passion. Will he do that forever? I don’t know. What I do know is he is a darn good automotive technician with a strong ethical leaning. One day, when he is working somewhere that allows him to be ethical and not push sales – i promise you, you will find the greatest, most honest mechanics in him, the best in the triad
He walked across that stage with his head held high, with great excitement in his being. Mom and Dad sat in the coliseum chairs, tears filling our eyes and our hearts swelling—our little man had done what we always believed he could do!
and Jackson
I could tell you in so many ways how proud I am and how I can’t believe my little man has grown up and at the same time how fabulous of a young man he’s become. I’ll give him the last word (after all it’s his day)!
Gathering the Gleanings: Reflections on Life in the Ministry 
Leave a comment