Baccalaureate speaker Margaret Gerber Stoltzfus in her speech to the graduating class said they too should accept the philosophy of expecting surprises from our creator and use those experiences to encourage others to walk in the same path.

“Let’s not be afraid to seize each day’s surprise. Whether it comes to us as joy or sorrow,” Stoltzfus said. “The tapestry of our lives becomes rich and varied as we receive each day’s surprise.”

By accepting the surprise into our lives, we open up “a new space in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity,” Stoltzfus said. Surprises can come when we least expect it, like when we laugh aloud or when we just smile to ourselves, she said.

“Or your eyes tear up when you hear that snatch of music,” Stoltzfus said. “Or an unusual scent reminds you of your childhood.”

Everyday surprises add up over time, she said, and some can even change the course of one’s life.

“I see experiences which were surprises, some of them completely unexpected that changed the direction of my life,” Stoltzfus said of two of her surprises — her decision to go into teaching and her husband’s primary pulmonary hypertension diagnosis. “One of the big surprises of that experience was how God rearranged the pieces of my life and opened up such a flood of new challenges for me.”

She encouraged the graduating class to “pay it forward.” To do kind things for other people and ask that they do it for someone else.

“Provide a surprise for someone,” she said. “The more surprises you give, the easier it becomes. Everyone has something simple to give. I believe God intends us continually to be paying it forward.”

Stoltzfus recounted the story of a woman who had waited a long time in a drive through at a well-known coffee shop. The long wait made the woman resentful and frustrated of the person in front of her.

“And finally, it was her turn at the drive up window,” Stoltzfus said. “And as the cashier handed her her mocha, she said with a wide grin, ‘The lady ahead of you paid for you. Have a nice day.’”

Herald City Editor Michael Schaffer can be reached by email at mschaffer@oskyherald.com

Congressman Leonard L. Boswell in his commencement speech told the 2008 William Penn University graduating class the Penn legacy and Penn experience would give them the foundation they needed to succeed in life.

“Remember for over 130 years, the students, alumni of William Penn have worked to make the world a better place by striving for social justice, equality, and a greater understanding of the many different peoples of the world,” Boswell said. “Remember this as you create your own future.”

The William Penn legacy includes an advocacy of equality for all peoples and all religions. In 1875, the year the first William Penn class graduated, slavery and inequality were accepted by society. And even today, Boswell said, steps toward a fair and just society have yet to be achieved.