I am the grandfather of six, with each of my daughters and son’s-in-law having two girls and one boy, ranging from age 7 to age 13. I really feel for my grandkids during this coronavirus pandemic. It is a traumatic situation for all of us. This means that each of us will have to deal with the effects of this shared experience when it is hopefully somewhat behind us—when we reach a new normal. But for our children and grandchildren it is not just what they experience from day to day, but it is the time of their shaping of their personalities, the time when they learn life lessons through person-to-person community involvement.
So much of education is about relationships. We learn from books and computers and teacher’s instructions online, but we cannot reduplicate the learning we gain through relating to classmates and cafeteria workers, shy classmates and bullies. We also grow through experiencing life in a “mini version” in those valuable years of great change. To go through endings and beginnings—such as Kindergarten to First Grade, Elementary to Middle School, Middle School to High School, etc.—is all learning through making transitions. We learn how to let go and how to connect with others in the physical presence of one another.
Jonathan and David were best friends. They were connected to each other through a covenant. They lived through the ups and downs in life, including the royal intrigue of Jonathan being King Saul’s son and the rightful heir. When Jonathan died with his father in battle, David wept over the loss of his friend. Certainly, David learned and grew from being a part of his life, even from growing through the trauma of losing his best friend.
When all is said and done in this period of social isolation, may we learn to value others and the growth we experience through normal “take for granted” experiences like the “public” school.
Prayer: “Gracious God, lead us to be grateful for our schools, our friends, and our other relationships. Amen.”
Pastor Roger Black
Additional readings for today: Psalm 114, Jonah 1:1-17, 1 Corinthians 15:19-28
