When Class is Over...

Well.

This is it.

I just finished my last official class at Grace.

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My 16+ years as a student are (almost) over. Which is odd. This is all I have known, it seems. The last time I didn't have to sit in class was perhaps when I was three.

And yet... I must love it or something, since I'm off to go be a teacher for the rest of life (hopefully).

I don't have profound thoughts at the moment. Simply gratitude.

An immense gratitude for the opportunity of learning I have been given. Going to college is not normal for 90% of the world. Neither is finishing high school, for that matter. And yet... I have been so blessed to spend years with my nose in books, learning, studying, reading, writing... I take it for granted. I complain about the assignments and the homework and sitting through class or even lectures. Projects of course are stressful (I'm still not entirely done with one of them), tests require obscene amounts of studying for a relatively small amount of time to prove what I know...

But gratitude. How many people have truly gotten to do what I have done?

I love that even after over sixteen years of school, I still love it. But that's because I have had amazing teachers, mentors, professors, educators, and parents (yes... my very first teachers) who have seen education as more than simply filling a bucket. They have ignited in me a flame for learning, for knowledge, for growth, for wrestling with new ideas.

I used to hate the critical thinking questions in my textbooks. Even in class discussion, I would cringe at questions that required more thought. It was so much easier to just give the simple answer and move on. But my teachers did not let me stop with my simple answer. They challenged my thinking. They pushed me further.

This semester... yes, this final semester... I am finally beginning to understand what a huge impact these people have made on me. I'm so grateful for the people who challenged me in every season of life. It may have been a simple "why" when I was ready to quit writing and turn in my paper. It might have been a "show me where you find that," or a "how do you know" or a "is it really that way." These questions were infuriating at first. But now they're invigorating.

I am so grateful for Grace. For the classes I've had to take, the issues I have been forced to grapple with, the days where I sat, head in my hands, moaning because the questions were too difficult and I no longer knew what I thought. For professors who smile at my answers... then smirk and ask me to consider from a different perspective. For bosses who have seen my strengths, but also my weaknesses and have intentionally found ways to help me develop those weaknesses into strengths.

I am just so thankful. Thankful to anyone that has walked with me, prodded me, pushed me, challenged me. And I'm thankful for those who will continue to do so as I begin to do the same for others.