Good evening. I would like to thank Supt. Freeman, board members, principals, faculty, and graduating students for inviting me to speak to you this evening. You could ask any high school or college classmate of mine and they will tell you that I would be a serious contender for the Most Unlikely to ever give a commencement address!
Most of you know me as a former elementary teacher from London that retired back in 2003. Some of you know me better as Mr. McMath’s wife who was your superintendent until he passed away nearly five years ago now. I am here tonight in the capacity of teaching or passing on some wisdom to you one last time. I know you don’t need it because you are all bullet proof and indestructible now, right?! Typically a commencement speech contains life advice, words of wisdom, lessons learned, ideas on how to be successful, insights on how to be happy, and what really matters in life. I want you to know that I do consider it a blessing, an honor, and a huge responsibility to talk to you about this epic rite of passage, your high school graduation. I graduated from high school in 1967, and was very proud of the fact that my class was the first integrated class of black and white students to ever graduate from my school district, and that this occurred with no violence whatsoever. From the article that was written about your class on May 17 in the Caller-Times newspaper, I understand that all of you graduating seniors also have a lot to be proud of. You were trailblazers that started all clubs (Student Council, National FFA Organization, and National Honor Society) and athletic programs (your football team beat Skidmore-Tynan High School at the Bobcats homecoming game,) your volleyball team was one game away from competing for the state title, and you have one tennis player that is a state champion. You also started one-act play, the school newspaper, and Advanced Placement classes. Most important was that this was all accomplished while you all remained great friends. I think that deserves an applause, don’t you? My graduation was at the height of the sixties hippie movement, and yes, Mr. McMath and I were both hippies, and that is all I am going to say about that. But the changing times of the sixties gave me one of the most valuable lessons I ever learned, and it is a very simple lesson: Choose people over money. The scripture that verifies this concept well is “Better is little in the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therein,” which basically means you are better off not being rich while striving to follow God’s ways than to be wealthy without applying God’s laws to your life. This was why I chose to be a teacher, and everyone knows that teaching will never bring you riches. When students were asked what they wanted to hear about in a commencement speech, one of the most important things to them was advice on how to make the decisions they need to live life. If you will choose a career where you give service to people in some capacity, this will be one of the best decisions you ever make. Money can be good, but it cannot pay back the way personal relationships can. Let me give you an example by telling you a little true story. Most of you know that I lost a daughter in a car accident in 2003. I was still teaching school at that time and I was completely devastated. I went back to the classroom to teach two weeks after my daughter died, and I cannot tell you how much the community of London School poured their love into me. Not just the adults, but the children as well. One morning I was having a very difficult time and I laid down my head on my desk for a minute and just prayed, “Lord, I am having such a difficult time, would you help me?” A little girl in my second grade class came up to my desk and said, “Ms. McMath can I tell you my scripture verse I learned yesterday at Sunday School?” I said, “Sure, what is it?” She looked me straight in the eye and said, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.” Later on that morning I walked down a little path outside and met another little girl who was handicapped with one side of her body not working for her and glasses on as thick as a coke bottle. Yet, she looked up at me and gave me the most beautiful smile as she said good morning to me. It was if the Lord himself spoke to me and said, “And you think you have problems?” What I am saying is money couldn’t have done a thing for me at that moment in my life, but my lifelong investment in children paid me a high dividend. I urge you to make a personal commitment in your life to find something to do with your life that benefits and serves people where making money becomes secondary. I speak of the tragedy in my own life because at some time in your life things will not be easy for you. It happens to everyone. One of the most spiritual men that ever lived had this to say about his life:
“I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been beaten more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Once I was stoned (as with rocks!), three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a day and a night in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, and in danger from my own countrymen. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have gone without food; I have been cold and naked.”
Who do you suppose said all this? Sounds like Tom Cruise from the Mission Impossible movies, doesn’t it? It was the Apostle Paul who went on to write twelve books of the New Testament. Will any of us ever have a harder life than Paul? No, but I want you to remember his life when hard things come into your own. I mention hardships because not only have I had my own but London School has had many tragedies over the last fifteen years and I think they have made us a community of people that are more compassionate and empathetic than most.
My next and last point is a statement that my husband and your former superintendent made popular. It is “it has no eternal significance.” This quote came about when we were working in a little 1A school district called Patton Springs. They have six man football there and we were playing a team in the town of Groom, Texas. At half time the score was fifty something to zero, our loss. The coach was so discouraged he didn’t even want to come back on the field after half-time. He was whining to Charley and Charley finally told him, “This has no eternal significance, get back on the field.” So from that day on, Charley began to be recognized all over the Texas Education System for making that comment. It became a quote to measure all things in life. “Does it have eternal significance?” means that when all things around you are gone, will this situation stand valuable in the kingdom of God? These are the only things in life that you should worry about achieving. Thinking in these terms will not completely eliminate your worries, but will help you make sure you are worrying about the right things. What kind of things will stand as your legacy after you are gone? Money surely wont, but the personal relationships that you make with people will, and it is eternally significant that you share the love of God and his son Jesus with all you know and try to help with the burden of others.
If you will help your fellow man through this life you will produce things of eternal significance. I want you to be able to say at the end of your life that you lived out these famous words from a Beatles song:
There are places I remember all my life
Though some have changed
Some forever, not for better,
Some have gone and some remain.
All those places have their moments
Of lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I loved them all.
This concept from the song can also be repeated from the New Testament scripture in Galatians 5:14 which says, “The entire law is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Will you try to be one of those who loves them all? Then you will be one who finishes your life race with eternal significance.
Thank you. Now get out there and change the world, London Graduating Class of 2015!!