Renovate the age - part 2

This past week Cindy and I rode the stretch of the Iron Belle Trail from Otter Lake to Millington.  What a beautiful ride it was! If you have not had a chance to get your bikes out on that particular trail this summer, I encourage you to do it.  

There are fews things better than getting out in nature on a gorgeous Michigan summer day.  The trail boasts a nice wide path and beautiful views of nature.  

This portion of the trail concludes at Millington schools.  There is a large covered pavilion where one can sit in the shade and take a break.  

There we saw a plaque from the Millington Board of Education commemorating the original Glaza Elementary school in 1957.  A portion of that 1957 dedication states the following:

“We can truly say that this school building has a ‘sacred purpose.’  What more sacred thing is there than a human life? What greater trust do any of us have than the care of the children of this world? What finer investment can we make of our money than to use it for the sacred purpose of developing worthy, law abiding, and God fearing citizens? Our schools, homes, and churches share in this sacred purpose.”

It is difficult to imagine a public school board of education acknowledging the sacred purpose of developing God fearing citizens.  It is even more difficult to grasp schools and churches once working together in this sacred purpose.  

But, of course, that was 1957 when public schools were still allowed to acknowledge such things. In 1957 we actually believed schools, homes, and churches stood for the same values.

There also hangs a plaque from 2015 commemorating the pavilion on the school grounds. A portion of the 2015 dedication states the following:
    
“ . . . to help our young community members receive a solid foundation from which they     would become successful students and citizens.”

Do you see the difference in the verbiage from 1957 to 2015? In 60 years we have lost much in our language.  Would you agree there is more purpose in being a worthy, law abiding, God fearing citizen than just being a successful student and citizen?

When Samuel Adams encouraged patriots to unite their endeavors to renovate the age by educating their children in the Fear of the Lord, love of country, and art of self-government, the year was 1790. 

The constitution had just been ratified three years earlier, and yet Samuel Adams used the phrase, “renovate the age.”

The word “renovate” means to “restore to the first state, or a good state.”  I am surprised that Samuel Adams would feel like they needed to restore their age to a good state after having just written the Constitution.  

But somehow he felt like the teachings of the Fear of the Lord, love of country, and the art of self-government were slipping.  Could it be that every generation needs to “renovate the age”?

It was Reagan who said “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”  That obviously holds true for other things such as the Fear of the Lord, love of country, and the art of self-government.

Reagan continued by saying if we do not fight to protect our freedom, “One day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Have we reached the point in time where we are telling our children what it was like in the United States when people still feared the Lord, loved their country, and knew how to govern themselves?

Let us instill these principles in the minds of our children.  Let us guide their hearts in such a way that they become men and women who love the right things and desire to pursue those things with a Godly passion filled with skill and ability!

Let us renovate the age together!​

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Author

Dean Bowen is Head of School at Waterbrook Christian Academy