The Last Semester

Everything seems to come together for this point; for this fall. You know how life can sometimes swish back away or swell up and come crashing in? This is one of those crashing times. Like the months before were all holding their breath in eager anticipation of everything that would come bursting forth come the end of August. August itself even seemed to rush by, as if saying, “Hurry up, and on with it!”

I technically don’t have time to be writing a blog entry. I ought to be constructing characters and fictional places for this weekend’s activities. But I contend that if one doesn’t stop in these hurried times to recognize, if one doesn’t take a deep breath before the plunge then you risk missing it altogether. If you don’t catch each whispered flitter of the sword or take a moment to read between the lines you most certainly run the risk of missing it; missing it all.

I posit this: Have you ever taken a moment to taste a strawberry and contemplated that it could be your last? Ignoring the obvious, what if some strange new berry disease sweeps through in the next weeks, blighting all the strawberry plants out there and in a flash making the delicious thing extinct? Stop and smell the rose, I say, for you never know if it might fall off today.

For me, this autumn is my last in school, at least for the foreseeable future. It’s another step forward and another glance back; for the gray carapaces of those mighty stepping-stones which I have come along are still there, if only in my mind’s eye. They are still there because I stole a moment to take them in, to study the touches of God there; the masterstrokes that made it all possible.

Yes, the future is bright and full with possibilities. Life will get busier and busier still. But the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. He it is who has shaped my life thus far and He it is who holds it in His hand. Let all glory be given to God, for that is my joy.