I am approaching the end of my school year. That means that I am less than a month away from the start of my ride. But it also means that I have a lot of final papers to write if I intend to still be a good student and graduate from seminary on time next year.
Most people have been asking me how I have enough time to ride 20, 30, and 40 miles in a day as a full-time student. A majority of those people have been fellow students who feel overwhelmed with work and can't imagine having time off to do anything besides watch a movie once a week or play a quick match of ping pong. My question to them is, "How do you have time to do homework? In fact, why do you make time to do work?"
You see, the more riding I do in preparation for the cross-country trek, the less I feel the pressure of school and homework. I've realized two things: the goal of life is not to succeed in school or in the workplace, it is to enjoy life; and working to ensure that all people have the opportunity to enjoy life is far more important than what grade I might get on a theology paper. Actually, working toward the liberation of those enslaved is a far more powerful theological statement than any paper or book can make. So why work when I can ride my bike and feel the wind on my face as I speed by gardens and flowers and rivers? Why work when I can prepare for riding being a symbol of liberation and justice as I bike across the country?
Unfortunately I don't have an answer to that. I say unfortunately only because I know that when deadlines for papers come even closer I will regret forcing myself into "crunch time." I say unfortunately because I question the whole reason of being here in graduate school, and for having spent four years in undergraduate as well. What's the point of school? Why have I "wasted" six to seven years of my life in higher education? I feel as though I should quit school so that I can do more important things, a.k.a. enjoy life and do my best to help others enjoy life.
I'm not going to quit school, partly because I don't want to think of myself as a failure (though, in reflecting on this, I have to say that dropping out of school at this point might be a success because I've found my peace with and in God and what God intends for me and my life, I don't need a degree for that). I bring up these questions and reflections, though, for the few readers I have to ask themselves, "What am I doing? Why am I spending so much time working and worrying about money? Could I and should I be giving more time and money to the things that I enjoy and to good works so that others may enjoy life?"
I hope that you will think long and hard about those questions. Of course, jobs do help us pay for the things that we need and enjoy in life, and a steady paycheck can allow us to donate generously to those causes that we don't have time to personally work with. But I think we could all use some reevaluation of what we actually need and how much money we should be spending on pampering ourselves, or how much time we actually need to spend on our job and whether we should donate a whole lot more time and money to helping others.
If you don't know the story, check out Mark 12:41-44 in the Bible (the same story can also be found in Luke). Jesus saw rich people putting in fairly large sums of money into the treasury and a poor widow put in two coins. Jesus says that the widow gave more because she gave all that she had while the rich gave out of their surplus. We all have more to give, we just need to get our priorities straight. Can we allow ourselves to donate $50.00 to this cause, to helping the slaves in the world, but spend $500.00 on a couple of chairs for our dining room?
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