Editor's Note: This article should be read by every parent sending a son or daugh ter to college this fall, and likewise, read b y eve ry teenager.
Althea S. Miller writes:
To My Son
David Dear, You left home last night amidst a raging storm in my heart. Little did I know when you were bom some 18 years ago what your leaving the family “nest” would do to me. How could I know? I have been so busy through the years studying and train- ing and loving each child that all my time has been occupied in that area. I have had to learn many things in the rearing of my nine. Nor are my days of learning over. I am now in the process of learning how to relin quish my children to the demands of higher education as you each prepare for a life of serving Christ. Somehow, the learning process in this, or any area, never seems to come easily. One always wonders at the time of separation who will be here or gone when next the family gets together, Because I cannot shake off this won dering I feel constrained to tell you of a few thoughts on my heart as they relate to you. You can take them for what they are worth to you. From the moment I knew I was to have another baby, the third of my nine you are, I loved you. And why not? You are another token of a deeply rooted love between your Daddy and me. The first movements of your tiny body under my heart served to seal a mother’s love for you for all time. The events of your life pass in panorama before my memory now. The helpless sweetness of your pre cious baby days and “ old man” wis dom of your early boyhood philoso phizings are among the jewels in my hall of memory which is occupied by you alone. Nor will I ever forget the night you came into my bedroom sobbing as though your heart was broken. Do you remember the reason for those tears? You were concerned about your salvation. Several days prior to this never-to-be-forgotten night you had been a naughty boy and were miserable in your rebellious state. The Spirit of God worked in your heart that night and you couldn’t sleep until you made a few matters right. It was joy unspeakable to your
mother to enter into the fellowship of your confession and repentence. The day you committed yourself to Christ both for salvation and His Lordship was a highlight with eternal implications in your young life. When you began to evince genuine interest in the true values of life and loyally to stand on the principles taught by your parents when others would make light of them, Mother was sure that all the hard work she put into you, coupled with constant prayer to our Father to overrule our short-sighted ness and lack, surely bore fruit. One day just about three months ago you stood strong and shy at the head of your high school graduating class. You had reached an important milestone along the road of your life. Now you stand on the threshhold of what can be and should be a most wonderful four year adventure. It will be replete with challenge and hard work, sometimes fraught with anxiety and discouragement. But with your heart belonging to Jesus Christ alone the eyes of your understanding fixed steadfastly on the goal, and self discipline ruling your passions on the basis of God’s Word, you will surely be more than a conqueror. As your Daddy and I commit you anew to your Saviour and Lord as you live away from home and attend a Christian college, we are asking Him to make and keep you aware of your specific task to which each be liever is committed: “Ye are the salt of the earth.” Don’t allow Satan to rob you of your savor, David. Not even a Christian college can keep you “ salty” , Son. This is a personal mat ter between you and the Lord, and the savor will be assured only as you personally maintain a close and con stant fellowship with Him WTho gave Himself to make you what you are tonight. If there is any bit of a m o t h e r ’ s heart-felt philosophy I would give to which you ought to pay special heed, it is this: Whatever standards of conduct were right and righteous at home, these are right away from home.
j*
Whatever truths you have been taught and which have been absorbed into the very warp and woof of your character to make you the young man of God you are now, these truths must be guarded, cherished and adhered to, now, more than ever, as peers and fellow students look for and rightly expect evidence of your walk with Christ. Whatever standards of manners and morals and ideals which we have in culcated in and lived before you; what ever you have accepted and lived of these, they, too, will envelop your personality and character to make you a man above and among men, where others of lesser stature make a mockery of such nobilities. Someone has well said: “ Everyone has to be entrusted to himself sometime in his life.” You have come to that time, my Son. By His power you will be true to that trust. Finally, though far from last as to importance, with the Word of the Lord through His Apostle I would remind you. “ . . . whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest (honorable), . whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatso ever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think (fix your mind) on these things” (Phil. 4:8). We love you with an all-inclusive love, David. You are never farther from us than our latest prayer for and thought of you. You know where and how to get us if at any time you need us.
i
b
►
»
1
With tender love, Mother and Daddy
September, 1959
3
SEPTEMBER, 1959
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online