September 4, 2001

BACK TO SCHOOL!
WHAT? ALREADY

It seems as if the last day of school just happened. We're no sooner into summer vacation than the notices come telling us when to register for next year's classes. Wayne's World encourages us to "Party Hearty!" but our response is "Party? Hardly!" The party was over before it got started.

I've recently had a pre-teen tell me that summers seem shorter than when she was little. Well, sister, you ain't seen nothin' yet! They zoom by in a blink when you're on the other side of thirty-nine.

The neat thing, though, is that we do grow. You may have just squeaked by fifth grade, but now you'll be a sixth-grader. You know more and more each year, and your abilities are constantly expanding in new directions. Some day soon you may be giving a valedictorian speech:
      "Just a few years ago I didn't know how to spell ‘graduate,' and now I are one."

# # #

The school of spiritual growth in which the Lord has enroled all his children can sometimes seem like a grind. We learn our lessons from sermons, Sunday School classes, and our own private Bible study. Then we try to apply it in the "home work" of family interactions and everyday living. Often there are tests, some of which we may flunk.

From time to time, God seems to provide us with the sense that we are moving on from one grade to another. Maybe we've begun to do some sort of service, so that we're not always on the receiving end of ministry. This makes us feel that we're accomplishing something. It seems that this is just the time when one of life's pop quizzes confronts us with a challenge we're not prepared for, and we feel like we should be in kindergarten again.

Along the way, God gives us breaks—kind of like summer vacations. We feel we've achieved some spiritual goal and we have a chance for a little "R and R." But we'd better not get too comfortable, because we're still students and another term in God's school lies just ahead. "Come on, Lord, can't I play a little longer?" "Someday you'll thank Me for pushing you on to the next grade."

Though spiritual school days may seem long and hard, we should remind ourselves and each other that we really are growing. Because of our years in God's education system, we are becoming useful to him, able to serve him and live lives that attract others to him.

At some major graduation along the way, you may be the valedictorian. If so, make sure that you're humble enough to say:
      "Once I didn't even know how to spell ‘Christian,' Now I know that I'll never be all that word implies, but I'm committed to being a lifelong learner in Christ's school."

–Pastor George Van Alstine