First Lady Michelle Obama gave the commencement address at Spelman College. It was an inspirational and motivating speech. Using the history of Spelman’s austere beginnings and highlighting the tenacity and persistence of two Spelman alumnae, Marian Wright Edelman and Janet Bragg, Mrs. Obama encouraged and edified the class of 2011, charging them to climb to the highest posts in every area while reaching back to bring someone else along.
Mrs. Obama brought to life Harriet Giles, Sophia Packard, and Rev. Frank Quarles using their own words, allowing them to speak to the graduates of their passion, their commitment, their sacrifice for the initial 11 students and every Spelman woman that came after. She reminded the graduates that they had been instilled with the same intensity and passion as the sisters that had gone before them.
The First Lady called the graduates “the culmination of their sacrifice”. What a charge. What a motivation. I realized the connection of this statement, of being “the culmination of their sacrifice,” to the gospel. We, as Christians, are the culmination of God’s sacrifice of His only begotten Son, of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross, and every other Christian who’s sacrificed to spread the gospel, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, and take care of the poor, orphaned, and elderly.
As the culmination of their sacrifice, we also are charged to continue to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” by continuing the work for which their sacrifices were made. Remembering these sacrifices should motivate us to lean in, press forward, and persevere.
Thanks to Mrs. Obama for such an inspiring speech; thanks to God for the sacrifice and the revelation.
