Template
With our first child recently graduating high school, I sought the advice of moms on graduation protocols. How early should we arrive? What is etiquette for graduation announcements? I asked graduation ceremony questions and graduation party questions. Then I saved notes to have for our next two kiddos’ graduations. I attempted to build a template of sorts for this momentous time of graduation. A template would surely make things easier the next couple times around, right? If I don’t have to spend time remembering all the details, I should be able to spend more time enjoying the moment. With the framework laid out before me, it brought me some peace that the next couple celebrations might be less hectic. It seemed like a great plan!
Until… it was like God tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to see all His templates. Many of His templates are the ones that made me well up with tears and add a tissue to my Kleenex wad over this past week of graduations and end of school year celebrations.
Multiple times, the families of the graduates were acknowledged for their commitment as the first teachers of their children and for their investment in Catholic education. God’s template of family is a remarkable cornerstone on which society is built. Because of the creation of man and woman, who may be called to the vocation of husband and wife and then called again as father and mother, a template was created to procreate, nurture, and teach each child. Pondering just how rich God’s template of family can make our schools, our communities, and our Church is pretty profound.
Another tissue-worthy template I was reminded of this past week is our ability to know and love. God’s template created us in His image, and we were designed to encounter life with both an intellect and a will. Another way of describing this template is we were given the ability to use both our heads and our hearts. While we may have a limitation on what we can do with our minds and how we process things intellectually, God has allowed us to love limitlessly. (And that is where the tissues really rolled.) We are allowed to strive for an infinite love, which in turn draws us closer to one another and to God.
A good template affords us the luxury of using it or, in this case, living it out. It is not up to us to build the template and figure it out ourselves. The overarching template of God’s reach and the innumerous sub-templates that have resulted all because He chose to send His only begotten Son to live among us are mind-boggling. This Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, reminds us of yet another template, the third person of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit. “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit” (1 Corinthians 12:7).
Allow yourself to be in awe of God’s templates. Because when life gets uncertain, we can be assured of the certainty of God’s templates and rest in His works.