While our neighbors have children graduating from Mercer Island High School, my wife and I are celebrating our youngest daughter’s commencement from college.

Such occasions are milestones of achievement that trigger a sense of pride. They also awaken an awareness of vulnerability. Commencing from the security of the classroom to the context of an unpredictable world is both exciting and frightening. Those twin emotions fill the hearts of both graduates and their parents — emotions which prompt us to pray.

Regardless of your faith orientation, the following is a prayer we’d do well praying for our kids.

Almighty God, the Scriptures remind us our children are a gift from You. With holy awe and a sense of wonder we received these priceless treasures gift-wrapped with potential. In no time these miniature persons were kindergarten-bound, where they found just how much there was to learn. But You helped them, Lord. You fed their curiosity and infused their little minds with big thoughts.

As they matriculated year after year from elementary school through middle school, we marveled at their ability to make the grade. Gratefully, You bolstered their self-confidence when bullies attempted to undermine their self-worth. And then, as they entered high school, You looked on as they focused on maintaining a high GPA with an eye on the colleges of their dreams.

And now here they stand on the threshold of adulthood. Won’t You walk with them, Father, as they pass through this wide-open door? In many ways they seem adequately prepared to embrace the opportunities and challenges that await them. In other ways, they still resemble those little tykes we sent off to school so long ago with their big backpacks. Now as then, they have cause to fear what is so unfamiliar. Please protect them.

Grace them, God, with a thirst for knowledge and an appetite for understanding. As they continue to calculate facts and figures, help them translate the truths they encounter into attitudes and actions that guard the dignity of others. In their grasping of wisdom, may they open their hearts to those in need. Give them compassion and humility as they stand up for those put down by society.

Heavenly Father, as their capacity for understanding Your world expands, increase their ability to know You and trust Your plans for their lives.

Amen.