Sara Rose

Sara Rose walked across the stage this week while being inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. Sara is my fourteen year old daughter. As I sat in the auditorium, an overwhelmed and proud parent, memories of the past fourteen years streamed by as quickly as the time has. One memory,that paused with clarity, was of holding her hand when she was but maybe fourteen months old, helping her walk across a playground. She tried with all the might of a toddler to pull away from my grip and run to discover this new found world.

With difficulty I departed memory lane and I listened as the speaker spoke of service, leadership and character. A member of the NJHS must perform with outstanding results in each of these areas to be considered for and maintain membership. These words are ones I associated with adults, not my little girl. Until tonight. Tonight I realized that I must change with her. She has matured into a young woman, and I have not stopped looking at her as a young child.

In less than thirty minutes my daughter grew up in front of my teary eyes. I worried if she would face all the challenges that I did as a young teenager. The temptations that come within and from peers. The broken hearts that come with relationships suddenly cut short for no good reason. The decisions to study or to play. The choices to do right or wrong. 

I know she will face each of these as I did. Today the challenges are even more with the popularity of social networks like My Space and Facebook allowing one to be more bold in their honesty, more open in their sharing of private thoughts, regardless of their content. It has become so easy for anyone to sit at a keyboard and type thoughts that at one time were not even spoken out loud; then with the stroke of a key share them with the world.

Without doubt I know Sara will face these challenges. It is also without doubt that I know she will face them better than I did. Sara Rose has the distinct advantage of knowing Jesus Christ as her savior and as her guide. At fourteen I made the choice not to know Him, to turn away from God and His church. It would be another twenty years before I realized what Sara did when she was just 8 years old.

All of inductees tonight were asked to take a vow. A vow that they would always follow the guidelines as set forth by the National Honor Society. For you Sara this vow will be simple when you remember the promise that God made to you.

I will still try to hold your hand at times to steady your walk, and you will probably still  pull away and discover the world on your own. But know this now as I do, in truth, you were steadying me.

Love, Dad