As of this graduation season Sarah, the three-year-old who used to call me "funny Uncle Jim" (the "uncle" was honorific and Sarah, for reasons that are unclear, supplied the adjective) is now the proud possessor of a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology "with all the honors, rights, and privileges to that degree appertaining."
I'll have more to say about colleges and college degrees in my ReligionToday column in a few days, but for now I'm letting it sink in that the little blond girl twirling in front of me in her new pink dress has graduated from college. It's sobering.
Years ago (1985-ish) I watched Dr. James Dobson's video series "Turn Your Hearts Toward Home" and still remember something from the first tape (in 1985, you'll remember, videos came on tape). Regardless of what you think of Dobson and his politics, he had wise insights into life and child rearing. If you don't feel as though you're getting older, he said, take a look at the children you know. When the kids you remember as three-year-olds graduate from college, it's safe to say you've gotten older.
Sarah's graduation is a reminder of my advancing age and of why I'm writing this blog. I want to finish well and I want you to finish well. And truth be told, we have less time than we'd like to believe.
In light of that, consider the words of the Roman Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC-AD 65): "It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. ...The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully."
Keeping that in mind and battling our profligate tendencies is, I'm convinced, one of the keys to finishing well. And that three-year-old who just flipped her tassel brings in all into focus for me.
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