A message for our 2013 high school graduates

Congratulations to the class of 2013! You have now completed your high school education and are moving on to the next exciting phase of your life. As you embrace the future I want to challenge you to do three things.

First: Always be grateful for the good things you have been blessed with.

As Americans everyone of us owes a huge debt of gratitude for the incredible privileges we enjoy living in the United States. God has blessed our country in amazing ways, and many men and women have sacrificed much to maintain that blessing. You should always be grateful for our nation and for our wonderful communities here in Western Nebraska.

I also hope that you will be grateful for the education you have received. Your teachers, coaches, club sponsors and many others in your school have been dedicated to your education and your overall development as a young person. What they do year after year is not just a job to them. They teach and instruct because they want to invest their knowledge and skills in the lives of students. They do it because they truly want you to be successful in life. So be sure to express your gratitude to them.

Likewise, please don’t forget to be grateful for the good things that you have received from your family. Even though it has probably been hard at times for you to educate your parents during the past few years, you should still be grateful for them. Being a parent is a very difficult job, and even the most loving parents have a list of regrets and failures. However, as you leave home you will probably be amazed at how much smarter your parents will become in the weeks and months ahead. So be grateful for your family, your school and your country.

Second: Remember that your character will always be more important than your career accomplishments.

In the years to come some of our graduates will be very successful in life. You may excel in your career. You might achieve financial success. You may reach a position of power and prestige. You might even become so famous some day that people will get off of Interstate 80 to see where you lived. It could happen. It is also possible that you may not be a huge success in your career goals. You might not become rich and famous. You might be considered to be very average or even a failure in some of your life goals.

However, whatever your level of success in the future appears to be, please remember that who you are is more important that what you do. Character is more important than career. Throughout your life, whether you seem to be a success or a failure on the outside, always make sure that who you are on the inside is someone that people can admire and respect. Unfortunately some graduates will achieve financial success or reach their career goals, but fail to be men or women of integrity. Some will sacrifice their moral values and violate God’s laws so they can live what they believe to be the “good life.”

Please don’t do that. Rather, make it your goal to be known as a good friend or a friendly neighbor. Let others see you being a patriotic American and a community-minded citizen. Be a loyal employee or an honest employer. If you get married, be a faithful husband or wife. Keep your promise and stayed married. If you have children, do everything possible to be remembered as loving and kind father or mother. Be the kind of person whom others turn to in their time of need. Be a man or woman of faith in God. Like Jesus Christ said, be a servant to others and you will achieve true greatness. Be more concerned about your character than your career.

And third: Choose carefully what will be most important in your life.

As you begin this wonderful new phase of your life with all of your hopes, dreams and opportunities, you will constantly need to decide what is most important to you. You will need to decide what or whom you are living for. This will determine much of the direction of your life.

If you live to party then we already know where you are headed. If possessions, pleasure or power is most important, that will determine the purpose of your life. If family, friends or faith in God is most important to you, that is what will motivate you in the major decisions of your life. But you have to decide. And as you decide, be careful. Make sure that it is really something important enough to live for – or even die for.

As a high school graduate many years ago, I tried to take seriously the challenge of a famous military leader in the Bible named Joshua. In his day Joshua challenge the people he led with these words: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...” Then this great leader made his own personal choice known. He said: “…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” As a young man that was my choice as well. I decided that serving Jesus Christ was most important to me, and that I would make it my overall goal in life no matter what my career choices might be. That decision has determined the course of my life. It has given me my purpose for living, and I have never regretted it. I am personally convinced there is no greater purpose in life, but you must decide for yourself.

So once again I would challenge you: Choose carefully what will be most important in your life. Remember that your character will always be more important than your career accomplishments. Always be grateful for the good things you have been blessed with.

God bless our 2013 Graduates!