Thoughts on Graduation from Seminary

     This is my second college graduation.  The first one was 41 years ago when I graduated from Pharmacy School at UNC-Chapel Hill.  Pharmacy school was hard and I barely made it through.  I learned a lot in the 30 plus years of practice and it was a great and rewarding career.
     This week I graduate with my M.Div from University of Dubuque Theological Seminary (UDTS).  It has been hard work and sacrifice of a different kind for the last 4 years.  What is amazing to me is that in so many ways I feel like I was carried through these four years.  There was lots of support from friends, cohort members, students from the years ahead of me, faculty, family and total support from my husband.  But there was also a different kind of support, I so sense, at this the end of my schooling and the beginning of a new journey, being carried by God.  My heart is so full of gratitude!  As friends and family gather round by sending cards, well wishes, gifts and even being present at the commencement ceremony, I am overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed, because it does not feel at all like something I have accomplished but something that God has accomplished in me through so very many people who have poured themselves into me during these four years.  I feel like I have been a sponge that has been privileged to soak up the wisdom and knowledge of those professors in the classroom, my teachers and colleagues in CPE, my mentors and guides through the Presbytery process of Inquirer, Candidate and student Intern; so very many brilliant, loving and affirming people and all with a heart for Christ that leads them to train others. This has been a picture of the kingdom for me;  the incarnation of Christ at work in this world here and now for me. 
      I write this to remind myself to remember; to remember that God carries us through all that I cannot imagine possible.  In the years to come, I pray that I remember how God has carried me to this resplendent place and that I can honor God for all that God has done in my life. 
     And tomorrow the festivities begin -- picking up cap and gown, uniting with families and friends, celebrating the hard work that all have accomplished and listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit that testifies to the incarnation that we are witnessing!