Rite of Passage

My youngest daughter just got her driver’s license.
After the six month waiting period, and the sixty five hours of practice driving required by our state, along with thirty hours of classroom instruction, she has completed what was expected of her.
Now, just like my four other drivers, she is in God’s Hands.

Did you ever contemplate a rite of passage?
No more diapers, no more hitting balls from a tee, no more braces on teeth, elementary school…middle school…high school…diploma, college, graduation, job, marriage, having a family…
It begins all over again…with another generation.

Of course, I am simplifying.
There are so many stages we pass through.
Some we mark with celebrations; some we gloss right over.

Life is really a series of moments.
It is important that we make those moments count because they will never come again.
We may wish that we could get back the glossed over moments.
If only someone would have told us at the time how very important they really were.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have had an announcement…Watch this! Don’t miss that!
But even if we missed nuances and times that flew by…God never did.
He saw them all.

I remember an old saying that I have shared through the years:
Life is lived forward, but understood backwards.
How true.

Especially for children, everyday moments become events very quickly.
You can literally catch their enthusiasm.
It is the best kind of contagion.
We need a little more of it in our world…their joie de vivre…their joy of life.

We have a unique dinner plate in our home.
It is colorful and well used…and says YOU ARE SPECIAL.
It was the birthday plate…the good job plate…the “I know you’re feeling sad” plate…
It was an important reminder that even though my five children were part of our large family, they were individuals with gifts and accomplishments all their own.

You know how it feels when you receive a “just because” kind of gift.
The flowers that are brought home just to say I love you.
The little item you see at the store, that doesn’t cost very much, but that means the world to the recipient because it meant that you were thinking about them.

Often, the best rite of passage…the best way to mark something significant is…time.
Time to affirm…time to speak into a life…time to define what doesn’t seem to have a definition.

In the movie “Courageous” men were discussing when they first knew they were men.
They each had their own memories: learning to drive, getting their first job…
One man said, “I was a man when my father told me I was.”
That has stuck with me.

A moment defined.

A rite of passage happened without fanfare, or brass bands, or confetti.
It happened none the less.
A father affirmed that his son was a man…and that sealed the deal.

A mother does the same thing when her daughter crosses over into womanhood.
It is an event.
The Mom affirms the inner and outer beauty of her daughter…the Godly woman she is.
It speaks volumes.

A moment defined.

There is one rite of passage that is the most important.
The passage from this life into our eternal life.

He was in the world though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but his own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:10-13)

The right to become children of God.
It is conditional.
One vital thing must first be fulfilled.
We must receive Him and believe in His name.

This is not just any name.
You are to give Him the name Jesus because He will save the people from their sins.
(Matthew 1:21)

If we think we can accomplish this rite of passage on our own, we are mistaken.
We can’t get there from here.
The road is narrow and can only be traveled by way of the cross of Christ.

Getting there from here…by way of HIM.
He is our necessary rite of passage.
An eternal moment defined.

I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (John 5:24)