Life on the Pasture

How many times during the past few months have you been thinking to yourself, "If this were a normal year, I should be doing this right now"? I thought about that quite a bit today since it was the last day of our school year at Beautiful Savior. I thought about what the closing chapel would have been like in the church sanctuary instead of online. I pictured everyone going outside for the ceremonial lowering of the flag and final blessing. And as I write this, I would, during a normal year, be having fun with our graduates and parents at the end of the ceremony. 

I have to admit, I really don't remember anything about my 8th grade graduation. But for this year's graduates, I think 2020 will be etched in their memory. Unfortunately, they can't even picture what graduation would be like because they've never gone through one before. Nor had they gone through a few months of online school. Nor had they experienced an extended period of the world around them gripped in fear of the "what if?".

Which makes me wonder about something else. Did I make the most of the time I had with them as their Religion and History teacher in explaining the faith and helping them to get a clearer picture of world around them? Have I adequately prepared them for the next chapter in their schooling? Did they see in me someone who exemplifies what it means to be a follower of Jesus? Did I help them to become people who think through things and search for answers? "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." (Proverbs 22:6, NIV)

One of the titles Jesus was given is "Teacher." One of the titles I need to hold on to for myself is "student." And what I must continually learn from the Master Teacher is to bring everything to Him. That doesn't mean that I am lazy and fail to use the gifts and abilities with which I have been blessed. It does mean that what I can't do, He can, including making up for my shortcomings and leading my students as only He can that they might continue to walk closer with Him and know more and more fully the joy which only He can give even in the most challenging of circumstances.

And so, even though it's not a normal year, I will continue to do what I normally would (and what my teachers did for me): Bring my now graduated students to our Lord in prayer. For when they're with Him, it's the best place they can possibly be.

Congratulations Class of 2020!

– Pastor Schmidt