All Things Work

I read with interest a few weeks ago a newspaper article outlining the plans for a local high school reunion that would span a weekend. Indeed, a very full weekend of catching up with old friends was anticipated. Tours, a dinner and socials were about to unfold for alumni arriving from around the world. What really caught my eye was the enthusiasm expressed in a couple of quotations from local graduates and organizers. One of them told the reporter, “I loved high school, the hockey and the football days, the tightness of a small school and the camaraderie”. Another went so far as to say, “If I could go back, I would do it all over again. I loved high school.”

I cannot personally relate to those sentiments. I know many who would absolutely agree with me. The very thought of having to return to my secondary school and enter those doors as a student is enough to make me shudder. When I look back I wonder how I ever made it though the experience. Indeed I did drop out one year to work in a paper mill and had to return for an additional year, teeth clenched and determination etched on my face, to complete my senior matriculation so that I could attend university. The moment I entered university, I realized that learning was something to be enjoyed. I found creative thinking was prized and pursued the opportunity to learn and succeed with enthusiasm. In the pursuit of three degrees and other qualifications my marks improved with each passing year.

Indeed, I left secondary school with less than impressive grades. I have vivid memories of the fall convocation I attended after I had attended university for several weeks. It was such a relief to be assured that when I exited from that gymnasium, I would never return. I had studied Latin for four gruelling years from a man, who, despite his good intentions and competent approach, was prone to racial slurs and inappropriate exhortations, examples of which I have wisely decided to omit from my discourse this morning due to their objectionable and offensive nature. Within the confines of the sixties, his comments were not at all that unusual or perceived as offensive. The world has indeed changed for the positive in at least some areas. In the end, I achieved the stellar grade of fifty-one percent in my provincial examination for Latin Authors. I must admit that I memorized, with great difficulty (I am not now, nor was I ever very good at memory work), pages of English translation of Latin and simply wrote them down after trying to identify the first line of the selection. In short, I translated very little. The shocking event of my convocation evening was the earnest congratulations of my Latin teacher. When he commented on my fifty- one percent, I was surprised to hear him kindly say, “Fifty-one percent is all you need to get out of here”. Indeed, how correct and perceptive he was. I have never forgotten his congratulatory words. I must concede today that the study of Latin has shaped and defined my English reading and writing skills.

I have also realized in recent years the truth of the words of Paul in Romans 8:28.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

We are not shaped by destiny, fate or even luck. We are conformed to the image we will become from the beginning by the hand of God. When we are going through difficult times, we may find it hard to recognize that indeed all circumstances are part of God’s specific plan for us. He is at work in us long before we have the wisdom to accept His free gift of redemption or in Paul’s wording we “are called according to His purpose”. All things, including a young person’s distaste for high school, work together in the shaping of an individual and I thank God daily for that reassurance.

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