What I actually learned in college.
My sister and I both graduated with our bachelor degrees from online schools (her's from Liberty University and mine through CollegePlus), so we were perhaps the closest things we each had to college buddies. I distinctly remember bemoaning to her from the dinner table about the futility of online schooling and how tedious it was making me feel that morning. I sat there on my designated bench with my computer screen in front of me and a scrambling of books in my vicinity, many of them staggered precariously underneath a gigantic anatomy and physiology textbook.
It seemed as if I was accomplishing nothing; I would read a chapter, write up a discussion response, and post the obligatory two comments (or three or four if I felt like impressing the professor) on my "colleagues" discussion posts. I would spend an hour writing up a paragraph, a day writing one page and then discover I could only use half of it, and 20 frustrating minutes learning how to cite an article according to the APA standards. It was times such as these when I would inquire of myself, "What is my life!?"
Because when all was said and done, I felt like I was doing nothing.
I had no college campus to make an appearance on, no professors to shake hands with (if that's even what you would do with a professor), and no colleagues to study with before the final. But where the college experience was lacking, the college stress was not, and so I probably stressed myself out more often than necessary because at least it made me feel like I was doing real school.
Several months and many transcripts later, we had both finished up our classes and enjoyed Mattea's Liberty University commencement ceremony from the comfort of our living room. My own graduation was a ways off as I had to apply for it and go through a bit of a process to have it completed. Three months later, I find out that I was denied graduation because I was "missing" 7 credits. After enough phone calls to make an extrovert insane, I figured out the situation and had to resend some transcripts which I had already sent and await with crossed fingers, hoping they'd arrive before the deadline.
Less than a month later, I receive an official later of graduation.
I am ecstatic, I am overjoyed, and I flop the letter down on the table and forget about it. Life has moved on for me, and while graduating from college is great, I'm pretty sure that receiving my diploma in the mail this December isn't going to change very much. Because the certification and recognition is nice and all, but what a college education really gave me cannot be put on paper.
While I learned about the theory of communication, wrote a capstone on cross-cultural communication in the healthcare setting, and could probably spew out facts about A&P in rough Spanish, those things will eventually be forgotten. However, what I cannot unlearn is this: to be a finisher.
Anyone can start. If you challenge yourself to something difficult, it's not too hard to get the endorphins pumping and elation flying so that you can start something. News Years resolutions are a mocking case in point as we all begin with good intentions to do so many brilliant things that would make our lives better if we could only just finish them. But while motivation to begin may be easy, actually completing it is not.
I daresay, I'm not perfect in this area, for there are so many things I have never finished (The Silmarillion is always nagging me in the back of my mind...), yet I know that when I really put my mind to something, I can do it. I can finish. Even if it makes me feel like pulling out my hair and even if it is as tedious as going week by week doing nothing but writing and responding and being sure to check my college email. Because being faithful in those small things when no one is really watching will make a difference when it's a big thing and many people are watching.
I cannot finish things on my own, but instead must look moment by moment to the greatest Finisher of all. The One who promises that the work He began in us He will complete. So with Christ as my goal, I press on, and I will finish.
It seemed as if I was accomplishing nothing; I would read a chapter, write up a discussion response, and post the obligatory two comments (or three or four if I felt like impressing the professor) on my "colleagues" discussion posts. I would spend an hour writing up a paragraph, a day writing one page and then discover I could only use half of it, and 20 frustrating minutes learning how to cite an article according to the APA standards. It was times such as these when I would inquire of myself, "What is my life!?"
Because when all was said and done, I felt like I was doing nothing.
I had no college campus to make an appearance on, no professors to shake hands with (if that's even what you would do with a professor), and no colleagues to study with before the final. But where the college experience was lacking, the college stress was not, and so I probably stressed myself out more often than necessary because at least it made me feel like I was doing real school.
Several months and many transcripts later, we had both finished up our classes and enjoyed Mattea's Liberty University commencement ceremony from the comfort of our living room. My own graduation was a ways off as I had to apply for it and go through a bit of a process to have it completed. Three months later, I find out that I was denied graduation because I was "missing" 7 credits. After enough phone calls to make an extrovert insane, I figured out the situation and had to resend some transcripts which I had already sent and await with crossed fingers, hoping they'd arrive before the deadline.
Less than a month later, I receive an official later of graduation.
I am ecstatic, I am overjoyed, and I flop the letter down on the table and forget about it. Life has moved on for me, and while graduating from college is great, I'm pretty sure that receiving my diploma in the mail this December isn't going to change very much. Because the certification and recognition is nice and all, but what a college education really gave me cannot be put on paper.
While I learned about the theory of communication, wrote a capstone on cross-cultural communication in the healthcare setting, and could probably spew out facts about A&P in rough Spanish, those things will eventually be forgotten. However, what I cannot unlearn is this: to be a finisher.
Anyone can start. If you challenge yourself to something difficult, it's not too hard to get the endorphins pumping and elation flying so that you can start something. News Years resolutions are a mocking case in point as we all begin with good intentions to do so many brilliant things that would make our lives better if we could only just finish them. But while motivation to begin may be easy, actually completing it is not.
I daresay, I'm not perfect in this area, for there are so many things I have never finished (The Silmarillion is always nagging me in the back of my mind...), yet I know that when I really put my mind to something, I can do it. I can finish. Even if it makes me feel like pulling out my hair and even if it is as tedious as going week by week doing nothing but writing and responding and being sure to check my college email. Because being faithful in those small things when no one is really watching will make a difference when it's a big thing and many people are watching.
I cannot finish things on my own, but instead must look moment by moment to the greatest Finisher of all. The One who promises that the work He began in us He will complete. So with Christ as my goal, I press on, and I will finish.
Congratulations Maryah. You have truly accomplished a gigantic feat.
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