Embracing Future Opportunities
“My four years at Tyndale have taught me a few things about ‘easy’ and ‘comfortable,’ namely that the easiest option is often not the best one,” said Rachel Reimer [BA Human Services 2015] at the University College Spring Graduation on May 2, 2015. At the ceremony, both Rachel and Dr. Natasha Duquette offered encouragement to the 77 new graduates.
Rachel, the graduating student speaker, called on her peers to venture into the unfamiliar with boldness, just as she learned to do during her undergraduate studies. “Tyndale has challenged us to grow and given us many opportunities to step outside of ‘comfortable,’” she said. This is a good thing, she explained, because it challenges, teaches and develops us. It is in the unknown that we are most aware of our need to rely on God: “I find that He is faithful, and He is good…every time.”
Rachel thanked her professors for their guidance and example: “You have taught me what it means to love God not only with all my heart, my soul and my strength, but with all my mind as well.” She spoke of how the skills she learned at Tyndale aided her during her year studying at a secular university: “The critical thinking skills I had learned at Tyndale became so valuable in helping me discern the worldview behind what I was being taught, hold it up against Truth, and decide for myself what I thought about it.”
Dr. Duquette, Associate Dean of the University College and Associate Professor of English, also encouraged the graduates in her address. “As you go out from this place,” she said, “you will need to apply the practical knowledge you have gained… [and] you will need to hold onto the Truth by keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.” She drew on the wisdom of past Christian writers such as Jane Austen and T.S. Eliot to inspire the graduates “to plant trees that will bear fruit in the future.”
Dr. Duquette noted the beautiful stained glass windows of Tyndale’s Chapel and the blossoming trees outside. “God will send you out to places and people in need of renewal and restoration,” she said. “Once you arrive where He has sent you, persevere and keep planting your seeds, knowing the seeds you plant will eventually accomplish that which He has purposed. [This] may be something beyond anything you could ever ask or imagine.”
Rachel and Dr. Duquette offered hope for graduates as they step out of the comfortable. Dr. Duquette reflected: “Though it may at times be painful…you will be embracing the Truth in a way that is paradoxically sacrificial and liberating, and deeply restorative of yourself and others.”