Higher Education

The acceptance letters and financial aid packages keep filling up our mailbox, because Michi has done his part, and God has blessed. I flew to Chicago a month ago, and went back in time to a place where 18-year-old, culture- shocked, brokenhearted and just broken Charissa walked the sidewalks of Wheaton College and decided against it because the landscape was too flat. As I walked through this amazing college a month ago, while my baby brother auditioned, I could not help but think of what might have been. What kind of success could I have achieved? What places could I have traveled to? What kind of hardships not experienced? All these questions were in stark contrast to the reality of this 30-year-old mother. A reality consisting of an increasing amount of grey hair, leftover chewed- up cracker goo of a child stuck to the shoulder of my coat, and a seemingly empty portfolio of achievement.
And so over the last month I have fought jealousy and discontentment. Sometimes it has been bitter to swallow. At other times, I have really seen how God is blessing me here and now through my children, through the strength of tired Christian refugees starting all over again in this country, through my church and through Joey.
As I was reading here about homeschooling today, I came across this: “...we pursue not a cultural definition of success but of true greatness for our kids: ‘having an unquenchable passion for God that manifests itself in an unwavering love and concern for others.’” It hit me, isn’t this what God wants for every one of us? A passion and love for him, that offers itself generously to others? Isn’t this what God is educating me toward?
His school has led me to a life that is a lot different than my initial youthful goals and dare I say it, dreams. This higher education has put some grey into my hair, it has stained my clothes with cookies, goldfish, and sometimes tears, and it has given me new dreams. This is the perfect school for me. This is my story; the one God wrote just for me so that my passion for him would be mighty, and my love for others true. I have not graduated yet, but I can say that there was a different Charissa walking the paths of Wheaton College last month.