I’m in the middle of my final two classes needed to complete my Master’s Degree.
It’s just a piece of paper.
Nevertheless I’ve taken a dozen or so classes to qualify for that piece of paper and now, with only two classes left I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Getting to that light requires spending four twelve hour days in class, studying Joshua-Ruth in one and Postmodernism in the other.
I’m not a young man anymore so a twelve-hour long anything other than sleep is tough. Looking back on my Master’s studying I can see how many hurdles, obstacles, and hills I climbed over to get to this point. Now that I have one last hill to go I feel the burst of energy to propel me over it, knowing that, on the other side, is rest.
That’s been our theme for this year, by the way:
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
(Hebrews 12:2)
My Master scaled countless hills and hurdles during His three year ministry and then, at the end, his last one was the most challenging of all: He had to climb the hill of Golgotha. He did it—He was able to do it—because He focused, not on the hardship but on the reward coming on the other side. He endured the cross, disregarded the shame, and then, on the other side, got to sit down on the right hand of God.
Keep your perspective always a little bit beyond where you are in life, because where you are might be tough, but beyond that is rest.
~ Matthew