It's the middle of August, and the new school year looms before me: I've got pencils and notebooks to buy, new clothes and back packs must be bought, and this isn't even for me! My two kids are probably preparing for the future in a minimal way; I, on the other hand, am racing to get them prepared, thinking of what they need, picturing the homework load that will affect our whole family- because if they have homework, I have homework!

Yet, I am in school too- the school of life, the school of "make your dreams come true- because no one else will do it for you". It's true- I'm piloting the boat, riding the bull, walking the path- whatever metaphor you want to use- and I've got to move myself foward, intentionally, towards the reality I want to experience: fruitful, productive living with all gifts and talents used, ignited, blazing.

I'm in the school of life, and it's not that I get a final grade at the end of my life (I do); it's that I also get a grade for each day I live. Today is going to be an A+ day- not because I won't make mistakes, or crumble momentarily; it's that I will not forget that all I do can be done in love, by grace, pardoned mercifully where I fail, and then touched by Him in such a way that I keep going, I keep riding the bull, holding on....for more than 8 seconds.