The Next Step

Last night I attended a very special graduation. My friend, classmate, and colleague received her master's degree. I am very proud of her.

I would have been on the stage with her but for the fact that I had taken a couple of semesters off, and it seemed too overwhelming to fit all of that into my already crowded schedule.

So my own personal date to receive my master's degree is set for next year, May 2011.

I had always wanted a degree. When I first wanted it, I was a child, so my goal was not as specified as it is now. I knew I wanted to learn, I knew I wanted to excel, and I knew that the subject matter revolved around human behavior and motivation.

When I first started this continuing education journey at a very late date -- colleges call people like me "non-traditional" students. Some call us "lifelong learners." I earned my general requirements, centered on a science path, and took off! As the day came nearer, I was so excited to have earned my first degree. It was an associates degree, general education. Big deal? Oh, yeah! I ordered the traditional cap and gown, practiced the march. The graduation music stirred my heart. I was validated, I was graduated! I had my diploma in hand.

Even as stood for a photograph, I knew I wasn't finished. Yes, I did get my degree, but it was a "little" one. I wanted more.

My first experience at "walking across the stage" was a giant step, not a little one. I pursued my dreams, enrolled in the university and emerged with a Bachelor of Science degree, Behavioral Sciences -- exactly what I planned! Now I was a college graduate. I had learned a vast store of knowledge. Before I didn't know what I didn't know, and now I knew that there was so much more.

My education veered to the right and I focused on what my home church's seminary had to offer. Because they offered a psychological track, I enrolled in psych classes and because it was a seminary, I also was required to take theological courses, Bible classes.

I had not at that time realized the benefit and the joy I would experience during this phase of my journey. I decided that there is no effective worthwhile counseling apart from God, so the more I knew about each, the more accomplished I would become.

You know the rest --- yes, I want to go for my doctorate. I will. It is the next logical step.

In the meantime, as a fourth grade teacher, I have added to my understanding of children, students, and people in general because of the exciting and wonderful path on which God has placed me.