The Profound Impact
“Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.” - 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12
I’ve mentioned that I’ve reached the age (ahem… sorry, had to clear my throat…), where the university lets one audit classes for free. As an auditor, I don’t get college credit for the course; but attending is a joy. I would group the auditors into roughly 3 groups. The first group is interested in physical activity classes such as water aerobics or judo. The second group is interested in academic classes but just wants to attend the lectures since they don’t get a grade at the completion. The third group, (I fall into this group), are those that take an academic class and do all the work to get a “faux” grade. I guess I’ve always been academically competitive (to a point).
Anyway, I recently took 2 classes - a 300 level History class and a 100 level Political Science class, and had exams the same week. The first exam was in the 300 History class (History of Kansas). It reminded me of my college exams from several (I’m being generous to myself) years ago during my undergraduate degree program. The exam was short answer and essay only and consisted of 1 page with topics and 5 or so blank pages to write your essays (I asked the professor why he didn’t give us blue books like I remembered and he replied that they had gotten too expensive). I wrote for over 50 minutes (which is what he told us was the average time to complete a good response) and, although my hand hurt, I felt good about my knowledge of the material. In fact, I felt so accomplished, I would like to think that the grade doesn’t matter to me (but because I’m competitive, it probably still does).
The second exam was the 100 Political Science class (U.S. Government). It consisted of 25 multiple choice questions. I finished in 20 minutes or less and knew immediately that I got 24 of 25 correct for a “faux” A grade (the one I missed referred to categorizing lobbyist actions into direct and indirect categories). You’d think I’d be elated.
I took the exam at home on my computer. I could have been in my pjs but I’m a morning person so I had been showered and dressed for hours. After the exam, I ran a few errands including dropping off some soda for the church community fair. I ran into our pastor and as he commonly does, he asked me how I was doing. I told him how I did on the exams. He replied that I must feel good. That’s when it hit me. I didn’t feel good about the Political Science exam.
I explained that I thought it was too easy and it was mostly just regurgitation of presented info. Since it was a home taken exam, the students had available to them the text book, slides presented and any notes when answering the multiple-choice questions. I had to remind myself that this was only a 100-level class, an introduction to the bigger political science specialty. That only made me more mad because I realized that while I had several years of real life experience to blend with the lectures, most of those kids in the class don’t.
Ok, enough ranting. This brings me back to the Bible passage mentioned at the start. We all wish we got what we need or desire or to avoid unpleasant things and think it would be a better world if that were to occur. It is obvious to me that those accomplishments that had the most profound impact on me where those that I had to exert my time, treasures and talents to succeed. Those accomplishments that seem to fall in my lap, so to speak, are not nearly as satisfying. We can’t just rest on our laurels waiting for the next big thing (or even the second coming of Jesus).
