Education as a Gift

One of the reasons the season of Thanksgiving is wonderful is its role as a gospel metaphor. Year after year, we sit at tables sagging with blessings. We enjoy plump turkeys on-demand, no hunting required. We have hot bread, fruits, and vegetables sourced magically from dirt. We mix flour and fat (think "I am the bread of life" and "the fat belongs to the Lord") and drizzle it over the top of our meal. We eat.

This is the gospel, and this is grace: gifts from God's hand received by God's people, and unmerited blessings accepted with gratitude. We were broken, now healed; condemned, now forgiven; empty, now filled.

This grace/thanksgiving/gospel has two sides. A gift is given, but it must also be received. Jesus said, "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (true), but we are also called to receive. We are called to acceptance, gratitude, and guiltless consumption. God gives to us lavishly, and it's our job to grin big and have seconds on mashed potatoes. Then, as we have received so abundantly, we go forth and give freely.

I invite you to view education this way too -- as a gift -- and each day of classes as another rich Thanksgiving table. We are here to serve our children a joyous academic feast, and like mothers who work hard to make their tables beautiful, we want our students to work hard devouring the meals given to them, and then to give back. As David says: "Taste and see that the Lord is good!" (Ps. 34:8)

In this season of celebration, consider a gift to ACA -- a means of both giving and receiving. We are in the heart of our $100K year-end giving campaign for the good of our wonderful school, and God is pleased when we give freely. And when we do, God gives it right back to us: "Cast your bread upon the water, and you will find it after many days" (Eccl. 11:1).