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Graduation

Graduation

June 19, 2023

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.

 ~  Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV

We had the remarkable gift of seeing our oldest grandchild, Lilian Grace Chamberlain, graduate from high school last week.  I hardly know how to describe the fullness of my heart, pride and joy mixed with the sting of the necessary and good separation from home that young adults make. This season is ending, and college is less than two months away.

I remember my mom crying buckets when my parents dropped me off at Penn State. When we dropped our sons off at college, I did my best to limit the tears until we pulled away. Witnessing rites of passage is so heart-enlarging that it feels like it could break. There were tears aplenty at the graduation.

Body language speaks volumes! If you look at the photo above you can see the joy on my face, with one arm around her waist and the other holding onto her robe.

I wonder how it is that God, who loves us beyond all understanding, is willing to give us the freedom to make our own way in life? Maybe my stance with Lil is how God stands with us on the brink of change, smiling with joy and holding on for one last moment before letting us go.

With a full heart. ~ Anne

Published by kahuanne

Anne Findlay-Chamberlain has devoted her adult life to journeying with people as they seek wholeness. She has a B. S. in Health and Physical Education, and masters’ degrees in Counseling and Divinity. She is an ordained United Church of Christ pastor. She served three different UCC congregations in Hawaii (as pastor at a very small rural primarily native Hawaiian congregation in Hana, Maui; as intentional interim senior pastor at a large Japanese-American congregation in Honolulu; and as senior pastor in a medium size diverse congregation in a suburb of Honolulu). In Hawaii, she supported associate and conference ministries as a member and chair of the Oahu Association Committee on Ministry, and chair of the Hawaii Conference Formation Committee. In addition she served as a mentor to persons discerning their call to ministry within the Hawaii Conference of the United Church of Christ. She is a graduate of Ashland Seminary’s Pastors of Excellence program as well as Shalem Institute’s Clergy Spiritual Life and Leadership program. She holds a certificate in Spiritual Direction from the Charlotte Spirituality Center, where she teaches a course on Theology and Tradition. Anne is a member of Holy Covenant UCC in Charlotte, North Carolina. In her work as a pastor, spiritual director, and retreat leader, Anne loves accompanying individuals, small groups and congregations in discovering God’s presence in their lives. Anne is married to Rod Chamberlain and they have two adult sons and four delightful grandchildren.

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