Tom's Summer 2002 article

From the First Presbyterian Epistle to the Presbyterians, Summer 2002

by Thomas A. Sweet

My wife, Kim, was honored this year by the Senior Class at Chautauqua Lake High School where she teaches Chemistry, Spanish, and French by having the Yearbook dedicated to her. Kim will be embarrassed by my saying so, but she is one of the finest teachers I ever have known. It is not her command of the subject matter that sets Kim apart, though that is significant. It is more the playful creativity she employs to entice her students to learn. It is the compassion with which she treats each young person in that school. It is her special heart for those who get left out and for those whose home life is unsettling. Kim can be found in our pews every Sunday in worship and contributes to the life of our congregation in unheralded and largely unseen ways, but her primary ministry is with the young people of CLCS. It has not gone unnoticed by me that when her students call her at home, it is not for help with chemistry, but for counsel about life. Kim was asked by the Senior Class, the class in which Katy would have graduated had not her illness exerted such fierce control over her, to be its Baccalaureate speaker. I thought you might like to read what she said -TAS

Last week, Class of 2002, you managed to do something that few are able to do- you left me stunned and speechless with the great honor of your yearbook dedication. But I have had time now to recover, and it is important to me that you know how much it meant to me, how humbled and honored I still feel. Thank you. Merci. Muchas gracias.

You are likely the most talented, kind, and motivated class I have had the pleasure to teach during the last twenty or so years. Your futures are so bright, transcendent, and limitless! You have made such good decisions along the way and will find many doors opening to you. Most of the time your efforts, hard work, and commitment will bring you fulfillment and success. But what happens if, despite your best efforts, despite doing everything right, you find yourself walking, figuratively speaking, a “dark path”? A time when life is not fair. Let me say it again. A time when life is not fair. No one ever said it would be, you know. Sooner or later almost all of us will experience some loss- of a job, a home, a parent, a spouse, a child, a dream. Even when we are very good people. Even when we make good decisions and do almost everything right. Even when the loss is not fair. But just because life is not fair does not mean it cannot still be good. I do not have a magic formula to take away the hurt and pain of those times- some of which may be short-lived and some which may last for years –but there are a couple of things I do that help me.

It is pretty simple, actually. First, I do not ask, “Why me?” That is not a very helpful question. After all, why NOT me? I have learned that eventually almost all of us have a path of sorrow or grief to walk, a hard path. So how do I walk such a path through these days? I look for goodness and beauty along the way. It is there, even in the darkness. God always provides beauty if we but look and see. I am lucky enough to drive along Chautauqua Lake on my way to work every morning. There is incredible beauty and joy in watching the seasons change. But I am not just talking about the natural beauty all around us here in Chautauqua County. I also mean the beauty to be found in other places, like in your young, hopeful faces, watching you show mercy to each other, seeing you take pride in your accomplishments, listening to you laugh. I love my job. I have found so much beauty in the midst of my work. Your dozens of acts of kindness to me, and to Katy- cards, signs, flowers, hugs, smiles, the prayer assembly in the atrium –all beauty, all strength and support for walking my path. Beauty helps to heal sorrow if you let it. Beauty does not take sorrow away, but it does “shout” that the world is still good. It allows us to take a small step off the difficult path, a respite, if only for a moment. So, my young friends, seek beauty.

There is one more thing that helps me. On the days when I really do not want to get up and face the day, I do it anyway. I just get up. I ask God, this BIG God who has loved me and you since even before we were born, to show me ways to shed light on someone else’s dark path. And God does. And it works- there is light for both of us. I helping someone else you end up also helping yourself. You realize that you are not alone in facing sorrow. You receive grace sufficient for the day.

So, Class of 2002 whom I love, there it is. Accept your turn. Seek beauty. Help others. You will get through any of the “dark paths” you find you must walk. Life is not always fair, but it is good. Please remember that. God’s blessings and my love go with you, each one, as you travel your own unique paths through this life. Vaya con Dios.

It kind of makes you wish Kim were the preacher in the family, doesn’t it?

With our best wishes to each of you for a summer filled with discovery, joy, and continuing rebirth, and with thanks to you for this life in Christ that we share together,

Tom, Kim, Molly, Katy, Emily Sweet

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