This is graduation time in North America. My mind retreats some decades to when it was a privilege to give the commencement address at two different high schools. Now this week I am attending my second grandson’s graduation from high school. My advice for him comes first from the scriptures:
The book of Proverbs, with many quotes like “Lean not on your own understanding” (3:5); “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom…” (3:13); “A wise man fears the Lord and shuns evil…” (14:16); “…humility comes before honor.” (15:33); or “A generous man will himself be blessed …” (22:9).
If I was speaking to the whole class, I might add a quote from a speech given by the creator himself:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” (Matthew 6: 19)
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)
Or maybe from the great orator, Paul of Tarsus:
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith…be strong. Do everything in love.” (I Cor. 16:13)
Speeches all over the country this month have quotes like the following. I wish more graduation speeches would give quotes from our scriptures, but the following are also good reminders to graduates and even if we are not graduating – as we try to do business for the glory of God.
“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” -Will Rogers
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” –Abraham Lincoln
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” -Ghandi
“All our dreams can come true… if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney
“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.”– John Maxwell
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.”–George Washington Carver
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”–Winston Churchill
“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.” – Muhammed Ali
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. –Robert Louis Stevenson
Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own.”— Michael Dell
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing.” – Pele
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” —Thomas Edison
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller
“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” – John Wooden
“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” –Jim Ryun
“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” –Mark Twain
“There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” –Roger Staubach
Larry W. Sharp, BAM Support Specialist, IBEC Ventures
Larry.Sharp@ibecventures.com