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Mitch Todd About Mitch

Final-mare

Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. —Luke 18.25

It's been 8 years since I darkened the door of a classroom. On the day I graduated from seminary I declared, "That's it! No more school for me!"

So why is it I had a dream last night about being late for my math final?

You may have had similar dreams yourself: I was rooting around in my backpack and discovered a gigantic math text book I'd forgotten about. Somehow I'd stopped going to class halfway through the semester, and then I remembered I've got a final in that class in thirty minutes! I couldn't even remember what kind of math it was: algebra? calculus? And where's the classroom?

Oh, it's a terrible final-mare. I've had it before, throughout my academic life. But why now? I think I know: Call it sympathy pains.

Everywhere I turn I see looks of woe upon the faces of high school students, college students, seminarians, even professors! It's that dreaded time of the year. People are writing papers and giving presentations and taking tests (and grading tests), and it's just plain agony! People who are typically all smiles walk around with their forehead scrunched up, deep in thought. People who would normally be full of Christmas Cheer are mumbling "bah humbug" under their breath.

People are cramming as much knowledge as they can fit into their precious heads, and then regurgitating it out onto the page. It makes me think of that famous quote from Jesus about cramming a camel through the eye of a needle. Of course he was talking about rich people getting into heaven, but I think the image works for students, too. You're the camel, and finals week is the needle. If you can make it through, somehow, heaven lies on the other side! (Or Christmas Break, at least).

I've been through a few needles in my life, but I have to say the ones I tend to remember are the ones from school. Staying up all night before a test. Spell-checking with blood-shot eyes. Running flashcards, citing sources, scanning books I hadn't fully read. The whole thing really does sound like a bad dream, doesn't it?

Except... there's something wonderful about it, too. The feeling of mastering a subject. The thrill of a thesis or an idea come to life. The quiet hum of a brain running at full capacity. This is Learning, after all, one of the most noble pursuits a human being can undertake. Surely God wants all of us to gain in wisdom and knowledge — to push ourselves in new directions!

Yes, there is a sort of glory about Final's Week... the culmination of another semester of learning.... but I don't recommend trying to explain that to someone jacked up on caffeine and wearing the same clothes for the last three days. Needles are only glorious once you've passed through them.

To you, students (and teachers too), I can offer only my sympathy as you do one of the hardest things a human being has to do: Growing. And though I am (at least for the foreseeable future) beyond my days of books and tests and papers, I vow to learn a thing or two this week, in your honor...

Just not math.

Have a Great Week,

Mitch
rmitchelltodd@yahoo.com