Throughout the month of May high schools, colleges and
universities will graduate the class of 2024.
The universities of Michigan, Tennessee and Washington State, among
others, will lead the way on May 4.
Young men and women will line up this month robed in caps
and gowns grinning at their friends. Their eyes scan the audience, peering past
dangling tassels in search of family members who search for them. Cameras and cell phones light up stadiums and
auditoriums with bursts of light as proud parents try to capture the magic of
the moment.
All graduates who walk across stages to receive their
diplomas represent unique stories. Few are
as unique as World War II Veteran Bob Zonneville who graduated from Lakeland Community College
in Kirtland, Ohio at age 88 in 2013. Zonneville
fought in the 8th Infantry Division across Europe and participated
in the Battle of the Bulge. He was twice wounded, once by a hand grenade and
later by artillery shrapnel.
Zonneville says he
started college in his eighties because of his wife, Carol, who passed away in
2008. A career schoolteacher, she
constantly urged him to get his college education. “I thought, maybe in her
memory, I ought to do it.” Given the
opportunity to enroll in non-credit courses at his advanced age Zonneville
said, “Nah. I’ll pay the tuition. I’m
going to be a student. I’m going to get
the credits. I’m going to do the work.”
At the time, one 19-year-old
classmate said, “He’s also always telling us
to do better for ourselves and keep succeeding.” One professor said, “His enthusiasm is contagious, and his positive outlook on
our younger generation is refreshing.” Today Zonneville is 101 and still active
in his hometown of Mentor, Ohio where he recently spoke at a community
gathering.
Graduation commencements inspire us because they not only
recognize significant achievement, they celebrate new beginnings, new
possibilities and opportunities. Education
offers the young the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills that equip
them for the future. For those who are
older, it offers the opportunity to re-tool, to start over, to pursue new
dreams.
As important as education is, nothing compares to a
spiritual transformation that connects us with God and places in our hearts the
values that make life meaningful.
Proverbs says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
(Proverbs 1:7). In Ezekiel God said, “I
will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you
your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26).
God is always about new beginnings. He offers the young the opportunity to launch
their lives on the path that leads to life and, to those who are older, the
opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start over. Whether or not you hold a
formal degree from an institution, whether you are nineteen or ninety, you can
make a new start on life through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in
Corinthians “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are
passed away, behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
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