Time to Say Goodbye.

My long four years are officially over. I have my diploma(cover). I'm a high school graduate. I have had my share of fun, disaster, and tears of joy and sadness. I'm done. There are many of you who I'll miss. There are some who I wish I would have gotten to know better. But, I love you all. My fellow classmates and friends, this is for you.

This is Phillipians 1:3-11. This is one of my favorite passages that Paul wrote. It really captures what I want to say to everyone. Paul knows that God, who began a good work in you, will finish it. Completely. This is so incredibly encouraging.

³I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

⁷It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me.⁸God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

If you didn't know this about me, I really genuinely want everyone to be happy. I know that the way to true joy is through Christ. I want you to meet my most intimate friend. Christ Jesus. He's there whenever I need Him. Sounds cheesy, I know. But, it's not.

I want you to know that I pray this prayer for all of my friends. I want you to grow in love. Let your love grow as deep and as wide as the oceans, and spread Christ through your love. I want you to thirst for knowledge and insight. I want you to learn and know what is best, what is pure, what is blameless. I want you to be filled with the fruit of righteousness.

I want these things for myself as well. I want to show my love for Christ. I want to thirst for knowledge and insight. I want to learn more about God.

These are my prayers for the class of 2010. And, my prayer is for the hopeless, the hurting, the lost. I want them to have hope, to feel healed, and to be found. I want them to know Christ, the Savior of all.

With love.

Elizabeth Anne Mathers