Four years

Originally posted April 29, 2012, at Taste and See. Republished with permission of the author.

Last night, I opened my Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago file on my Dropbox to locate an old paper.

Four neatly organized folders sat before me. One for each year of seminary.

I was stunned.

For one, four years of my life look so neatly organized in their little folders. A sub folder with each class title. Completed papers tucked inside. Notes taken during many hours of my life spent in classrooms on campus and off, learning at the feet of others and soaking up their knowledge.

I have a week left. Two weeks, technically, before graduation around this time on May 13.

We’ll be lining up in our graduation caps and gowns, processing about with our many colleagues in ministry.

A week left of a long four-year journey. It has at the same time crawled and flown by. The hours and days seem slow and the months and years fast.

Or perhaps it is the opposite?

And in several more years, I will be reflecting back on a first call (God willing) and beginning to look toward the next adventure.

What an incredible journey. I have been pulled at like taffy, nurtured in the dusty sunlight, and filled up with good news and hope.

I have wept and rejoiced.

I have been positively snarky and ticked off. I have been politically correct. I have chosen my words wrongly. I have spoken prophetically. I have been a part of this place and space and time.

Thank you for forming this visionary leader. I hope I will make this institution proud.

Find a link to Alison Williams’ entry on the blog Taste and See at Lutheran Blogs.

You might also want to read:
This is my life
A good place to be
Planning for a faithful future