Grads -- Your Future is So Bright, You Need Shades

I have been enamored by all the graduation photos of all who are celebrating this momentous time of the year! Congratulations to all of you -- children AND parents. It's a great feat to have made it to this Rite of Passage that took a village to see it through. I know. I've been there too.

Graduation Day is so exciting! The ceremony is filled with speeches about pursuing your dreams, trusting yourself, taking risks and embracing change. Graduates get to celebrate the past and look forward to the future. This year, my granddaughter graduated from high school. I’m so proud of her. Right along with those who celebrated their child being the valedictorian of their class, I celebrated that my granddaughter was the valedictorian of her class – she was home-schooled. I have a great, great nephew and many family friends who are also graduating.

Whether they are getting ready to go to college, pursuing lofty goals and dreams or are sashaying into the next season of their lives, they all have expectations of how their lives are going to go. They've pictured it in their heads. Some pictures are of traveling the world or pursuing a dream job. Some pictures are of a white picket fence with four beautiful, well-behaved children and an always-loving husband or wife, and some see themselves owning a Fortune 500 company by the time they turn 25. And, there is absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing their dreams, but as those of us older, wiser folks know, those dreams may be absolutely opposite of what God's plans are for their lives and so we pray that all of these wonderful graduates pursue God's will first and foremost -- to be God-pursuers.

To all Graduates and Dreamers – keep these words in mind – “Before you ever came into being, God called your name. He formed you with love and intricately designed part of who you would become. You truly are made "in an amazing and wonderful way" (Psalm 139:14). Your journey on this path is not by coincidence. You are here because God looked out over all of history and chose you for a particular time and purpose. You could have entered the world a hundred years ago or a thousand years from now. But you are in this generation, this time, and there will never be another you or another opportunity to do what only you are chosen to complete. So go out there in boldness knowing that you don't have to be like anyone else. You don't have to do what any other person has done. You are chosen for one life — yours. And the wonderful news? Whatever God chooses for you to do, He will equip you. Being chosen means you will be given all you need. Being chosen means that success is simply obedience and trusting God will do the rest. Being chosen means that you have a great big God as your partner every step of the way. Those who love you will be cheering you on every step too! The best is yet to be for you and we can't wait to see it unfold.

Dreamers and Graduates -- you are chosen for one life - yours. God gave it to you. Now show off that life by making it the best life it could ever be for God, others and YOU!

Back and Forth -- Embracing the Past and Gearing up for an Amazing Future!

In usual "Wallace" fashion, we went to the opening night of the new Star Wars "Solo" movie. Indeed we are "star" struck with Star Wars, but, I'll admit, during the movie, I whispered to my daughter, "What's the matter with me? This isn't at all like one of my Hallmark movies! LOL!" Believe me, it wasn't! Spoiler Alert: The movie goes BACK in the Star Wars storyline to fill in the backstory of Harrison Ford's character of Han Solo. No doubt, a sequel will soon come that will take us FORTH to the future.

Last night we celebrated Payton's 18th birthday by going BACK and FORTH. Staci put together a slideshow that took us BACK to the past AND many of us wrote letters of advice for Payton's FUTURE. Staci and I were talking about this benchmark year and the hopes and dreams that Payton has for his future, but not before she reminisced about two-year-old Payton and 3 months old Alexia going with her clothes shopping.

Staci was in a department store dressing room of a department store with both little ones in tow. Overseeing Alexia was no problem. She was confined to her infant carrier. Staci undressed to start trying on some clothes when big brother scooted under the door and the captive was set free. Staci, barely clothed, ran from the dressing room to capture her escapee only to be alarmed that he had disappeared. With customers and employees of the store, the manhunt, rather toddler-hunt ensued. The escapee was finally apprehended sitting under a rack of clothes with a smile that could melt any heart. We went BACK in time and then we came back FORTH in time to embrace the Rite of Passage of this boy-to-man celebration.

Yesterday, I walked out to check on my little herb garden and was pleasantly surprised to see a gardenia bush growing right beside the garden. I've lived in this home for over a year now and never realized I had a gardenia bush. That, immediately took me BACK in time, to my Aunt Lillie Mae's home here in Dallas. Oh, how well I remember her incredibly fragrant and beautiful gardenia bush. It became one of my favorite flowers. Here I am way into the future and I am getting to love that "back" memory and my present and future thoughts.

For many circumstances in our lives, we're encouraged to NOT look BACK because of the stinging, hurtful and disappointing things we encountered. But, as God encouraged the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6 to remember how they were slaves to Pharoah but were freed, the Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea and most of all to go FORTH in faith and trust in their delivering God.

Maybe, today, it would be good to look BACK at your own life. If God healed, restored, opened doors for you before, He can and WILL do it again. The FUTURE is bright. Let's go FORTH in the light of a new day with goodness and mercy chasing us down. Maybe it's time to look BACK -- to see how far we've come!

Get Your HOPE Up!

Did anyone ever say to you, “Don’t get your hope up!” Bless their hearts – they just don’t get it. They don’t know what we know.

They don’t know that we have the Most High God on our side, and He is connecting us to the right people, giving us a brilliant idea, showing us a great opportunity, turning our gray skies to blue, and positioning us to go to the next level. When OTHERS can't, HE CAN!

Proverbs 4:18 says “The path of the righteous gets brighter and brighter.” That means the days ahead of us are better than the days behind us. With God on our side, our future is bright!

So, I’d say….. “Stay away from naysayers who dampen your spirit and choke out the seeds of destiny in your life!” With God on our side, there’s plenty of reasons to GET OUR HOPE UP!!