Yesterday a tent went up at Concordia Seminary – a large tent in the garden setting next to the President’s House. It’s there a reception will be held this evening for graduates and their families. Commencement is tomorrow.
You see people every day who place no value upon an education; that’s sad, but often it’s because that’s the way they were raised. Under the tent we say, “Thank you” to all those parents who kept asking their little children, “What did you learn at school today?” and kept hearing, “Nuttin.” “Then why are we sending you to school?” ‘I dunno.” Slowly it dawns on the child that he or she has learned something, and by college or graduate school has learned a lot.
Years ago I sat in a crowded corner in a hot gymnasium and watched our daughter Elizabeth graduate from Valparaiso University. The feeling was overwhelming. My parents grew up in the Depression when so many people had to go without so many things that today we take for granted, including higher education. Watching my daughter graduate, I understood like never before why my parents always and earnestly asked, “How was school today?”
“He who increases knowledge increases sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 1:18). Perhaps so, but the education parents provide can orient their children to heaven so that they truly value their blessings on earth. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).
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