Milestones in life often feel like endings, but many of them are actually beginnings. In this article, Nathan Whitaker reflects on his daughter’s graduation from the University of Florida and explores the ideas of growth, character, purpose, and what it truly means to keep becoming over the course of a lifetime.
Last weekend, our youngest daughter graduated from University of Florida.
Like every graduation ceremony, there were cheers, cameras, long walks across the stage, and lots and lots of photos. But sitting there as a parent, I found myself thinking about the milestone we’d reached, like it or not.
For years, your job is to help your children become independent. You teach, encourage, correct, support, and pray. You drive them to practices and school events, help them through disappointments, celebrate victories, and slowly watch them become their own person.
And then one day, they are.
And that fits with the title: “Commencement Exercises.” Not completion exercises, which is what it feels like. But rather: Commencement. A beginning.
Diplomas recognize what someone has accomplished. Life eventually reveals who they are becoming.
I suspect that most lives aren’t linear. Careers shift. Plans change. Unexpected opportunities appear. Difficult seasons come, too. Over the long haul, character matters more than credentials. Relationships matter more than recognition, and growth never ends – hopefully!
Later this month, I’ll have the privilege of speaking at another commencement ceremony in Vancouver, Washington. I suspect I’ll say something similar to those graduates:
Don’t think of commencement as proof that you’ve arrived, but think of it as an invitation to keep becoming.
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