Prayer for Class of 1979

Dear God,

Bless our classmates and friends from the graduating high school class of 1979. It has been 40 years since we graduated and so much life has happened!

Ferdinand the Bull - Weymouth North High School Mascot

We are different people than we were then.

We have grown up, raised families, had careers, worked hard to make a way for ourselves.

On the way, we've lost loved ones, including some of our classmates.

It is odd and sweet that we get together every 5 years, as we were only together for a short time, many years ago. It felt like forever at the time, but that perception is a function of youth.

Thank you, Lord, for the laughter, the heartbreak, the growth, the occasional drama, and the love that we share with one another, simply having the good fortune to live in the same great community, going to the same school, at the same time, and at the same age.

Thank you for the teachers, coaches, administrators, advisors, and all of the people that made the school 'work' every day.

I used to think this phenomenon was random, with no hint of a plan. That we were thrown together like a last-minute salad. I no longer think that.

Lord, we didn’t (and still don’t) understand your perfect plan. Not all of it.

But look at the results! We have gone out into the world, as prepared as we could be at that young stage. We have loved much, laughed much, accomplished much, suffered much. We have passed on our wisdom to the next generation, and now even to the generation after that. And we have gained wisdom from those generations too.

We are highly educated, whether in a formal setting or through life experiences or through the school of hard knocks, where we have all taken some tough classes from time to time.

Regardless of how we learned, we learned. And we developed into the people we are today.

We are rich, we are poor, we are somewhere in between.

We are business people, entrepreneurs, doctors, bankers, lawyers, caregivers, homemakers, carpenters, accountants, electricians, therapists, artists, administrators, nurses, teachers, students, writers, healers.

Wherever life has taken us since that sunny Saturday morning forty years ago, God has been with us. He has seen us through the joys and the disappointments, through the wins and losses, through blessings and tragedies.

God uses all of it – the good, the bad, the ugly and even the ridiculous – for our ultimate good, our ultimate reward, in heaven.

When we get to heaven, there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more struggle. The only remnant of our time together on earth will be the love we have for each other and the joy we shared during that crucially important, uniquely challenging, utterly unforgettable time in our lives, now four decades past.

So, Lord, continue to bless us, as you have for the past 40 years. Keep us healthy, happy and safe from trouble. Thank you for the blessings of our classmates, and for letting us be able to get together and enjoy stories and friendships and the times we had.

Bless our children and their children. Let us be a light in their lives, as our parents and grandparents were lights in ours. Let us leave a legacy that we can look at with pride. Thank you, that we are well on the way to doing exactly that.

Lord, thank you for this wonderful group of friends, and for letting me be a part of it. It is one of the many great blessings of my life. I am forever grateful.

In Jesus' name, I pray, AMEN!