Scott Kamps
Life in this world is a place where we experience love and heartbreak; it’s a world full of joy and trials.
We tend to live our lives as though we deserve all the joys; hence, we get angry when adversity comes our way – just note how many people reject God because of suffering they’ve endured.
Consider what is more consuming to you: gratitude to God during the blessings in life, or anger/frustration with God in the midst of hardship.
The truth is we should be more bewildered by the joy we experience than vexed by the tribulations of life. The goodness of God is everywhere around us, if we’ll search for it. In fact, not only is blessing usually intermingled in the difficulties of life, but often the joys of life outnumber the sorrows.
This has been vividly displayed in my life this year. While I still have great sorrow and anguish over the death of my daughter Shalimar earlier this year, and especially as we approach her birthday and when her class will graduate without her, I also am experiencing the great delight of having two of my other children graduating.
I recently attended my oldest son’s commencement ceremony at Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science. And he did it in three years!
The book of Proverbs says “a wise son makes a glad father;" I experienced that delight as he received his diploma. To be clear, his wisdom isn’t seen in a college degree alone, but in his character and his hard work/diligence to accomplish a feat I never achieved – and to do so debt free.
My only living daughter is graduating from the classical Christian online high school she has attended. She has grown and matured into a beautiful young woman who’s a joy to be around; one who works hard and loves babies! She aspires to the greatest work in the world – the job for which all other careers exist – that of a homemaker.
Lord willing, she’s going to make a good one!
Both of my graduating kids are a pleasure to be with. As they’ve gotten older and wiser, I’ve had (and continue to have) the privilege of discussing books, theology and issues of life with them both. I’ve both taught them and learned from each of them.
It’s been said that love is the root of all joy and sorrow; if that’s true, it explains why so much of the deepest sorrow and joy in life comes from our children, and that accentuates the value we should place on them. While our society deems children as mistakes or inconveniences, God declares the reality in Psalm 127:3: “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.”
Children don’t enter this world by chance or fate. God sends them as His gifts to us and the world.
This joy will be felt by many this weekend, as our community celebrates its graduates.
Scott Kamps writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, thestableguy@frontier.com.