school. I’ll preface it with a conversation I recently had with a talkative 1st grader. Having just realized that my daughter was in Kindergarten, she said to me:
"So, you’re the Headmaster and your daughter is in the same
school. That's kind of funny. Because, headmaster is an
important job. I replied, "Yes. But, you know what, my job as headmaster is not as important as my job as daddy." I paused and then added, "And, my job as husband is even more important."
She pondered my logic for a moment and then added to it, "Yah. But, I think your job of loving Jesus is more
important."
I smiled and then summarized our conversation, "So, if loving Jesus is more important than being a husband is more important than being a daddy is more important than being a headmaster, then I suppose my job as headmaster isn’t so important."
"Hmm. I guess so." Back to coloring.
At the same time, I know this is an important job, and I sometimes feel it is too much for me to take in. Fine Arts Night, Athletic Awards Brunch, Thesis Presentations, and the Baccalaureate Service left many of us all choked up and speechless. Now we're preparing for graduation, a significant event for the school and in the lives of these
graduates and their families. I'm overwhelmed, and I find myself feeling like this job is too big for me. Then, I think - this job is too big for me. In a very real sense, I am not worthy of the responsibility, the company of such a wonderful and dedicated faculty, or even to behold the beauty in the lives of these children around me. But by His grace I am here; He grants me the opportunity to serve and sustains me in it. In the same sense, all my other more important jobs are too big for me as well. Father, husband, and “loving Jesus” are beyond my abilities. I need His grace, His Spirit, His strength, His direction, His wisdom - in whatever doses He feels appropriate for me at the time, according to His good pleasure and for my ultimate good.
Our graduates will have many important jobs and great responsibilities, but they also have great needs. May God fill them, sustain them, and bless them as they go forth in His name.
In Christ,
Stephan Sprague
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8