I Don't Want to Graduate. Ever.

I never want to graduate.

This morning I had the privilege of sitting at the feet of Jill Briscoe, a renowned author and international speaker, at an 8am class taught by Dr. Neely. She shared about her life in England, her 14 year-old conversion, walks she taken, conversations she's overheard, people she's encountered. And she said one phrase that caught my ear and is catching my heart.

"When you graduate, don't. My husband and I have many honorary doctorates, but we never did the work. The result of that is that we never graduate. The result of that is that we never stop learning. There is so little time and so much to learn."

I want to read the classics and get to the end of them and realize more have been written. I want to go for long walks studying under Jesus, learning from Him in nature, in people, in chipmonks, in fire escapes, in hope, in tears, in billboards, in quirky laughs. I want to be a student of life. And one that never graduates.

This comes as an immense refreshment to me in this busy time of the semester. I don't want to write another paper or another sermon or another exam. Well, maybe I do want to write another sermon...but I am serious about the paper and the exam. I don't want to read another theology assignment and summarize the main points in one, single-spaced page. But, I do want to learn. And to keep learning and to keep learning and to keep learning.

I saw in Jill something of extraordinary irony. She is elderly. That's a nice way of saying she is really, really old. She's wrinkled and bent and grey. But she is so young. She is lively and hungry and learning. And I want that.