By Ben Disney
Congratulations to our graduating seniors! We’re immensely proud of our seniors and look forward to what God has in store for each graduate in the coming years. Along with our deepest prayers and support, we leave you with nine rules and six truths to help guide you as you begin a wonderful new journey of faith and discovery. (Read biographies of Arborlawn's 2012 Graduating Seniors starting here.)
In 2007, Charles J. Sykes wrote a book called “50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn In School: Real World Antidotes to Feel Good Education.” Here are nine of the rules:
Nine Rules You Won’t Learn in School
1) Life is not fair; get used to it!
2) The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
3) You will not make $60,000 a year right out of high school (or college for that matter).
4) If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
5) Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.
6) If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault. So don’t whine about your mistakes; learn from them.
7) Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
8) Television is not real life.
9) Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.
Six Truths You Learned in Church
Proverbs 3:5-6 - “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Jeremiah 29:11 - “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Proverbs 23:18-19 - “There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. Listen, be wise, and keep your heart on the right path.”
Mark 12:29-31 - “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Micah 6:8 - “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Philippians 1:6 - “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
# # #
ArborlawnUMC.org