Obligations

School is back in session as of today.  Some kindergarteners will be taking those first steps in their journey. There will be timid ninth graders walking into the high school for the first time. Everyone is a bit excited, and a bit nervous. That includes the teachers.

            For years my life revolved around the school calendar.  First I was in school, from kindergarten (I started in the Fall of 1964) until I received my master’s degree in May of 1984. For twenty consecutive years I went to school, and if that wasn’t enough I started again in 1994 and stuffed a three-year program into five, graduating again in May 1999.

            Of course, I’m married to a teacher, and then we had sons.  We followed the school year for all of our activities.  We want on vacations in the summer, and visited family over the Christmas break.  Both of my boys were out of school by 2008, but Tina did not retire until 2020.  So, the school year controlled my calendar from 1964 to 2020. 

            Today I am aware of the school calendar. I do have granddaughters, so I know their schedules. But we’re free to plan things that we could never plan before. We are hoping to take a trip to the mountains in September.  And if we choose to go somewhere else during the school year that will not be a problem. As I said, we’re free.

            And yet, I still have a calendar I need to follow.  As a pastor I would never take a vacation that would have me away from my church on Easter, Mother’s Day, or the Sunday before Christmas.  I want to be present for those events. The truth is we all have obligations we must keep.

            Our first and most important obligation is simple. Love the Lord. And then, love each other. Jesus made it clear that these two commands stand above all others. And Paul says that we do all manner of things, but if we do not love, it is simply loud noise.

            I pray that I will practice love as I should. I pray the same for you. Our world could use a little more Christian love.