The Bear of Little Brain: A Shout-Out

The string section can start swelling because I’m pretty sure this is going to be a sappy post.

I have finished college. And all it took was:

· four years

· unnumbered papers

· a large chunk of cash

· a forced cross-cultural engagement experience

· many overpriced books

But there were some perks, too:

· amazing professors

· brilliant fellow students

· Calvin College cookies (pretty sure they have crack in them)

· a competitive soccer team

· 5 jumps into the seminary pond

· Several rain dances and mud-frisbee sessions

Unfortunately, I never learned how to procrastinate. I never felt what 3 a.m. is like when you have a paper due in six hours. I never pulled a single all-nighter for the sake of a test (I did pull a most-of-the-nighter before a test, but I definitely wasn’t studying).

Gaps such as those aside, I still have managed to scrape up a degree. But I dread graduation weekend where it’s all about the young’uns accomplishing things and getting degrees. It’s always seemed to me that I’ve only ever accomplished exactly what has been given to me. For me, graduation should really be a bigger and ritzier Mother’s Day and Father’s Day rolled into one.

Because for starters, I didn’t pay for my college. Also, I didn’t drive me and my suitcases to and from college. I didn’t give myself good study habits or a healthy, competitive mindset. I didn’t answer my tearful phone calls about shameful B pluses on papers. I didn’t drive all day and night to watch a bad soccer game or a boring concert. For that matter, I didn’t drive myself to anything in high school and I wouldn’t have had a car for college if it weren’t for a couple of music educators in northwest Indiana who raised me.

So thanks, mom and dad. Graduation’s great, but I’ll keep working on what I know you really care about.

Proverbs 23:24-25