Commencement Speech

“Homeschool” is pretty self-explanatory. Going to school at home probably conjures a mental picture for you that involves stacks of books and chalkboards and math flashcards. Well, don’t forget to include rows of empty coffee cups-for both Mom and kid-scattered all over the house. And a kitchen table that is covered-no-buried in schoolwork to be graded. Well, I could talk about that. Or, I could talk about how every homeschool family eventually learns to take misunderstanding in stride. Relatives, friends, and strangers never seem to comprehend that homeschool is a legitimate way to get an education. But today, in honor of my sister and in tribute to my mother, I will tell instead about the ‘secret life’ of our homeschool family.
Beneath the appearance of everyday dullness and toil is a hidden structure, built through us by the patient of labor of the Spirit of God. Every family experiences this, and our homeschooling years have made us even more aware of it. Our daily struggle together to get along, to accomplish something in a day, to finish our schoolwork before noon or to get supper cooked made us tired sometimes. There are days that you just wish you’d picked another way. At any time, we know life can be shredded into a million pieces, and we wonder if working this hard is going to make a difference. There is no peaceful serenity involved in the word, ‘homeschool’, in fact, the picture that comes to my mind is more like crossing the Atlantic on a raft. Some triumphs, lots of tragedy, a little comedy and a whole lot of fighting the weather. I don’t know what it was like for mom, but sharing the glorious moments made it all worth it. Not glorious moments like this, but glorious moments that came when we didn’t expect them.
Homeschoolers and their parents have regular epiphanies, and those are such rich times-when we discover some great truth and come bounding into the kitchen with new knowledge on the tip of our tongue. I can’t count the times that our day has been paused, suspended in air, to make time for a long discussion about Biblical truth, church history, American history, or something else that lets us see our world in a truer light. We’ve gone to school in the barn, horseback in the pasture, in stock tanks, and even sometimes in bed! When you learn to learn wherever you are, you learn wherever you go. This is what fills the ordinary days with those glorious moments.
Tests come. Not just in school, but in life. And this is when we are sent tumbling by circumstance or events, but we land on the invisible structure God has built up under us. He strengthens it with our growing wisdom and understanding of the truth even in the everyday dullness. He fastens us together with strong bonds of love between us so that in the test, we are able to rise by His strength again, and move on. I remember the times we have looked back as a family, humbled to recognize that all along, He was strengthening us for the tests ahead. It was Him, all along, and it still is-for we are merely ordinary, flawed human beings!
Neither Callie nor I really loved learning in the beginning. For me, it took the first seven years of coercion, bribery, and spanking to get through school-the rest of my years as a student were smooth except for book reports. For Callie, I think it just took watching me and deciding not to make it so hard on herself! Both of us, thanks to our peculiar education, have felt at times that we were living a double life. Our education has been consistently Christ-centered and classically structured. Our thoughts and conversations around our dinner table sometimes find us discussing theology, or literature, or political theory, or philosophy. At home, we engage the spectrum of worldviews with our intellect; we speak freely and have developed passion for truth, for godliness, and for beauty. Outside of home, we have learned to temper these passions, not wanting to hear another homeschooler joke. We aren’t more important or special than anybody else, and boy, do we know it! But I can witness to you the truth of Galatians 6:7-8. Our parents sowed Spiritual seed in us, and we reap Spiritual fruit. If you find yourself discouraged as a parent or as a homeschooler, you’ve just gotta hear this one more time: Don’t give up!
The secret life of our homeschool family is hidden with Christ in God, a sweet, special fellowship whose journey has been more rewarding than anyone outside of us could fathom. We have experienced the blessing of obedience, thanks to Mom’s faithfulness to God’s calling to homeschool. And thanks to her faith and God’s grace, we’ve been able to overcome the obstacles, even when we were the obstacles.
Allow me to insert here, a sincere thanks to Mom. She did it. Ask her sometime if homeschooling hellion ranch kids was as easy as it sounds! Thanks for the times you let us go ride instead of do school. You seemed to always know when enough was enough. Mom, you make us proud to be your children and proud to have been your students. I can’t put a price tag on what you taught us, but it is something we hope to pass on: Loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Thank you.
Callie, I address you now, about this double life that we have led: part of our lives spent under the watchcare and nurturing of our family in the Lord; and part of it lived outside in the open air of this culture around us. It seems not to be as much an issue for you as it has been for me. But in case it becomes so, I must speak to you about your further calling to wisdom, understanding, and truth.
It is well known among Christians that we do not choose God, but he chooses us. We know that it is by his unlimited grace that we, through faith, are qualified to serve Him. We can approach the Father and know His will not by our own merit, but that of Jesus Christ, whose work on the cross bought us freedom from slavery. And we know He has given us the Spirit of Promise, who dwells within us, reveals God’s will in our hearts, and builds the hope of eternal life in us. Callie, you are of great value, but not because of any quality you possess. It is the Cross that has made you shine so purely among your peers.
You and others like you have been called and set apart for God’s use in a time that will require every strength and every skill you possess. You may wish you lived in a quieter, less serious time. To quote you-know-who, “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we must decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world besides the rule of evil.” Like others, you have been entrusted with a great treasure. It is not merely an education that you have. It is not merely a family that you love, but it is a calling and a fellowship that God has arranged around you, to strengthen you for the tests that are coming. I know it is comforting to hear someone encourage you to follow your dreams, especially, as you are searching for some path that will take you higher than others have gone. The worlds’ smooth speech matches our natural desire to be made content and happy, but it sells us a cheap imitation of peace. You know, sister, and I know, that we are citizens of another far country, and we will never be content here. Because you are set apart, it is your duty to set your course on God’s will, not on your dreams.
It is my hope that after you have surrendered the bright unknown to the Lord, that His will becomes your dream. I pray that in the decisions you face in the months and years to come, that you are true to the Lord Jesus in everything. Remember that what you have been entrusted with is of too great a value to set aside or to be spent on lesser pursuits. May you grow strong and prosper beside the Living Water. I leave you with His words from John 15. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it is in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me, you can do nothing.”