Graduation

Today I would like to write something a bit more personal. May is the month of homeschool graduations and homeschool conferences. Last year, I graduated one of my children in a wonderful small homeschool ceremony with friends around us. This year, however, was something spectacular.

My daughter graduated from ORU in Tulsa. I must say that I have been to several college graduations, but ORU is the best. Our last graduation at ORU was 9 years ago when my oldest and her husband graduated together. And yet, the ceremony always surprises me.

At the hooding, the head of the department stood there for an hour to hug each student as they received their hood, which indicates their school, their degree, and their specialty. To see this woman hugging these students, giving small whispers as they pass, knowing each of these adults in their path to completion of their degree was awe inspiring. We talked with her later and she is truly a woman of inspiration to my daughter.

Today, we had all the pomp and circumstance as we stood while the deans filed into the auditorium, and then the professors in their various robes with indications of rank and specialty. Then as the graduates enter, they wave to family and friends in the auditorium. So the music stops, I stop talking to those around me and all of a sudden we are singing praises to the Lord. As in church, we sing rousing praise songs of thanksgiving and rejoicing as this is a day of celebration, a time to stop and say THANK YOU GOD FOR BRINGING US TO THIS POINT. Kleenexes abounded before it was over.

They were great to acknowledge that each degree was a group effort, by the students, the professors and the families who sacrificed and supported the student through the process. It was good to be acknowledged, but also to see at an auditorium of families who had also sacrificed to send their children to a Christian college.

And that is what I wanted to talk about. This graduation is different than others I have attended in that the Lord God was acknowledged and thanked and praised with every step, every song, every speech. The university teaches the whole man: body, soul and spirit. Dr. Cooper's institute is in charge of the PE program which is required of all the students. They are taught logic and thinking skills as well as developed emotionally as they meet deadlines and standards of excellence. Finally, with chapel and required foundational courses in Christianity, their spirits are taught and matured.

The speaker was inspiring, the procession was quick and well organized, and my little girl with the curly hair is now finished with her degree. And none of that would have happened without Jesus in our lives.