My dear friend, you have written with a mother's heart laid bare, asking for two sons to be placed in school and to go forward without hindrance. I can feel the ache in your words, especially for the one who has been away from his studies and must now step back in. Do not suppose for a moment that this matter is too small or too earthly for our Lord's notice. Did He not Himself grow in stature and in wisdom? He knows what it is to be a child set among scholars. He knows what it is to have a future hanging upon the word of a teacher or the opening of a door. Bring this whole tangle to Him and leave it there, for He is not a cold spectator of your cares.
When a child has stepped off the path, or when circumstances have pulled him from the schoolroom, the temptation is to think that something has been spoiled beyond mending. But I want you to see your sons not as broken scholars but as pupils in the school of a gracious God. He has ways of teaching that no earthly master ever devised, and He often brings a lad back to his books with a hunger he never had before. That year away may yet prove to have been a strange sort of tutor. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Savior of souls but the Restorer of years. The time that seems wasted, the progress that looks impossible, He can compress His kindness into a single term and make a boy leap forward as though he had never paused. Only trust Him for this, and do not let the shadow of last year darken the doorway of this one.
Think of the Good Shepherd, who gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He does not drive the little ones; He lifts them. And when He lifts a lamb, He does not ask whether it has strayed before or whether it deserves the carrying. He simply stoops and takes it up. Lay your sons before Him as lambs that need to be carried into their proper place, and He will do it. The admission you seek, the smooth path into the classroom, these are not beneath His majesty. He who set the stars in their courses is the same who touched the blind man's eyes and who took little children in His arms and blessed them. He has not changed.
And now, will you do this for me? Pray about the school, yes, but pray also that in the going and the learning, your boys may come to know the Teacher of teachers. There is an education of the soul that outlasts every sum and every grammar lesson, and it begins when a young heart learns to say, "Lord, teach me to do Your will." If they gain a dozen certificates and miss Christ, they have lost everything. But if, in the mercy of God, the classroom becomes the place where they learn to look up, you will have received more than admission to the eighth standard or the eleventh, you will have received a pledge of eternity.
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O Lord Jesus, You who sat among the doctors and astonished them, and yet stooped to wash the feet of Your friends, look now upon these two boys. Open the doors that seem fast shut, and smooth the way that looks so rough. For the son who has been absent, give him courage and a ready mind, and let no shame cling to him as he returns. Take away every obstacle, every fear, and every snare, and let them both go in and out with gladness and safety. And in the midst of it all, draw their hearts to You, for You are the goal of all true learning. We ask it in Your name, Lord Jesus, who are mighty to save and tender to bless. Amen.