30 Years Late(r)

Homework.  I left that behind once and then I had kids.  Once they were old enough that I couldn’t help them with their homework because I didn’t have a clue, I was done with homework again.  So why would I willingly put myself back into a situation where I’m doing homework, my own this time, again?

My original plan was to go from undergrad to grad right away.  Then life intervened.  I talked with a prof in those days who told me that as long as I was open to learning I’d always be a student.  I think he was right but that insight became all the excuse I needed to let the study I was interested in give way to the job I needed.

And then years went by and then decades and it became much harder to convince myself that going back was even an option.

Just over a year ago I came to a “dark night of the soul” that lasted a whole season.  In the midst of that process there came some clarity.  I was searching for answers about my future and I was coming up empty.  Piece by piece I was getting disassembled, it felt like God was taking my world apart.  In the midst of great uncertainty came this one clear step: go back to school.

I like to think that my undergraduate studies have taken me 30 years to complete.  I know there’s a depth in my reading that didn’t exist 3 decades ago.  Life has given me some perspective that I seriously lacked when I was 20.  Suffering, disappointment, relationships, unexpected satisfaction, grace and hurt have all marked this road I travel on.  For me, now is the time and though it’s 30 years late(r), I’m ready for it again for the first time.  Besides, how long is too long to wait for a dream to come true?


Thanks to all my friends who are helping me on this journey!