“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

You’ve heard the saying, “Home is where the heart is.” I propose that a classical home is where the body, mind, and soul are.  It is where the heart is trained to love what God loves and abhor what He hates. It smells like bread baking and pumpkin spice candles burning.  Why?  Because life is happening there, food and fellowship are enjoyed there, our daily bread (the Word of God) is shared there and is life to all who partake.  People matter there, relationships matter there, words matter there.

My son, Caleb, and I have an almost daily ritual as he drives me to school in the morning.  We listen to The World and Everything in It news podcast and we hear the daily top news stories, brief synopsis of this year’s Supreme Court cases, economics reports, current cultural debates and commentaries, and occasionally a very cheesy joke or two.  When he graduates in May and heads off to Lineman School, I will no longer have this special time with him.  

You might be wondering what is so special about listening to the news with my son? Well, it is a God-given opportunity to dialogue with him about this world we live in.  When he pushes pause on the podcast screen, my heart swells because I know a question is coming, or a theological commentary, or sometimes even a “rant”.  I love all of it because it gives me a peek at his heart – his loves, his passions, his worldview.  It gives me a chance to encourage him or to push back or to just agree and wonder at the Lord’s work in the heart of my strong-willed son.

Would it be more peaceful to listen to music? Sure. Would it be easier to let him plug into his phone and do his own thing? Probably.  But it wouldn’t be more classical, and it wouldn’t be relationship building, and it wouldn’t help me fully enjoy each of the remaining mornings I have with him before he is off chasing broader horizons. Are there tears in my eyes as I am typing this? Yep, but they are sweet tears full of few regrets.

Miranda Mantei
Academic Dean