A mentor of mine once said to me, “The universe is a great teacher; and your life is the curriculum.” You may imagine how my brow curled. It sounded like the strangest thing I had ever heard in my life. Here I was, a recent college graduate with a vast and seemingly endless road ahead of me. I didn’t need the universe teaching me anything. I needed a steady income to pay my way through seminary.
But obviously I remember the words. I’ve recalled them often. And through the years I’ve remembered that these words came not from the bookshelves of some ambiguous self-help guru. They came from a trusted friend in this sacred faith we share. The older I get the more attuned I am to their meaning.
Over the last three weeks I’ve spent time in both the wilderness and the crowds. I’ve walked the paths of solitude and the well-worn sidewalks of the largest city in the country. I’ve dwelled in both the quietness of my own heart and the resonant joyful noise of my immediate family. And at every turn along the way I’ve sought the unmistakable presence of God. I can’t say the results have always resonated as unmistakably as I hoped.
What I can say is this. It ultimately doesn’t matter where you go. It doesn’t really matter how many are there with you. If you let your heart be tuned to the eternal call, there is something deep and lasting that will summon. Our responsibility has always been… and will always be… to answer the summons.
Maybe the clarion is heard at work while filing papers. Maybe it’s heard in class while your eyes blur at the report in front of you. Maybe it comes while shuttling the kids to another rehearsal. Or it could show up while processing the latest unexpected news. But as long as we have breath in our lungs, the curriculum remains before us.
I’m convinced that in the end the final exam is centered in trust. Whatever season of life, whatever circumstance or new opportunity, the lasting question is the same over and over again. Will you trust God in even this? What I’m discovering is that life will keep providing the curriculum for growing up and growing deeper. And God will keep providing the means to see it all through.
We are unfinished products, to be certain. But therein lies our hope. God relentlessly continues to lead us. To teach us. To show us the way. And he shapes us according to his unfailing love with every step along the way.