Valediction

Good evening school board memebers, teachers, parents, friends. It’s an honor to share this special moment with you.

Guys, we have finally made it! Even if today’s ceremony is meant to celebrate our achievement, it’s important that we recognize the people who have helped us every step of the way. We would first like to thank God, our savior. Only because of His grace we stand here proudly holding a high school diploma. We would also like to thank the KCS administration for taking it upon themselves to guide us in the Word of God. Thank you teachers, for bearing with us every day and not limiting your teachings to the academic field, but taking the time to teach us about life. Parents, you are the foundation upon which our lives are built. Thank you for striving to give us a better life. Friends, thank you for making this journey all the more fun. We will always cherish the memories we created together.

I don’t believe there has ever been a class as eager to graduate as the KCS class of 2011. We started counting the days left for graduation since the beginning of this academic year. We celebrated at the thought of “60 more days to go” and prayed for the last week to pass quickly.

The feelings that overcame us during our last year are understandable. We are culminating a learning process that has lasted 12 years, a process that has seen us grow, progress, from infancy to adolescence, and now—finally—towards adulthood. We are no longer school kids in uniforms racing home to change clothes immediately. All this to say, graduating high school carries with it a great sense of accomplishment. As I see this moment come true before my eyes, I can hardly believe it.

At the age of three, as the school opened its doors in 1996, I became a founding part of this institution. Many of my classmates have similar stories, entire lives spent as students in KCS up until today. In my case, it has been 15 years of my life, all leading to this long-awaited moment—graduation.

As we are dreaming of graduation, reality brings us down from cloud 9 with words such as: future, university, major, work, decisions. We are now slightly overwhelmed with reality, and we realize that maybe graduating isn’t as dreamy as we thought it would be. The climax we find ourselves in today only means that there’s another higher mountain waiting to be climbed; there are challenges to overcome, and achievements to conquer. This is the way life works.

There’s a popular, old children’s tale recently turned into a movie, where a girl named Rapunzel has been locked inside her house looking out of a window for 18 years, dreaming of the day in which she’ll experience what’s on the other side. In the movie’s climax, Rapunzel is on the verge of seeing her dream come true and she asks her friend Flynn Rider,  “What if it is not everything I dreamt it would be?” Flynn responds, “It will be”. Rapunzel then asks a much deeper question, “What if it is? What do I do then?” Flynn answers, “That’s the good part. I guess you get to find a new dream.”

Much like Rapunzel, we have been looking out of a window for many years, and now, the time has come to go out into the world to see this dream come true. Will it be everything we dreamt or not? Will we accomplish everything we planned or not? Perhaps we’ll get the privilege of continuing to build our lives by finding new dreams and goals.

Today, we stand on the peak of a mountain, a climax in our lives and tomorrow, as we prepare to begin a new climb toward new dreams and goals, we will have to fight doubt and fear to accomplish them, just like Rapunzel.

As Christians, we must have hope, knowing that God has ordained our lives since the beginning of time. God has established a purpose for each of us, and that is to glorify Him. When we find ourselves scared about the outcome of our lives, we will take courage in the fact that, as Isaiah 55: 8 says, the same God whose plans are beyond anything we could imagine is the God who has a plan to prosper and bless each of us.

I believe there’s a reason why God does not reveal his entire life plan to us. It is so we can give the best in us regardless of the result; give our all in the plot of our lives and forget about the outcome, God will take care of it.

Last year, six of us traveled to Asia. I can honestly say that two days before departing, as I packed, I didn’t believe it was really happening. It wasn’t that I thought of our trip in  itself as impossible; I simply doubted whether God would open the doors. I had said that I wouldn’t believe it was happening until the plane had taken off. Not too many days afterwards, I found myself up in the air on my way to a dream. I had to swallow my words and repent. As Job 42:2 reads, “God can do anything and none of His plans can be thwarted”, not even by our doubt.

Today, I stand before you with huge dreams and aspirations, and I must confess, also with a whole lot of questions. I’m sure some of my classmates can relate. However, I believe that our God can work through us, in us, and in spite of us. He is so powerful that just one word from His throne is enough to make our biggest dreams come true.

Let us have the courage to dream big about our future. Let us have the persistence and determination to live through the present, knowing that it leads to the future, and that we have a God for whom impossible is  nothing.

May the Spirit of God give us audacity to live extraordinary lives which move beyond all fear and forms of cowardice that hinder us from becoming what we are meant to be.

In one of my favorite pieces of poetry entitled “O Me, O Life” by Walt Whitman, the author wonders what the purpose of life may be. His answer is this: “That you are here, that life exists and identity. That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.”

You are here, you exist and you have a purpose.

We have been casted by God as actors in the biggest play to have existed: life. And we may, if we are willing, contribute a verse. The powerful play goes on, and we may contribute an extraordinary verse.

In God’s great masterpiece, what will your verse be?

Advertisement