Up until yesterday my office walls had been adorned with walnut-framed, brass-trimmed certificates that from across the room looked a lot like college diplomas. I did earn every one of them—sometimes at considerable financial cost—in professional training and education programs, so there was nothing wrong with displaying them. However, I also had a drawer full of equally earned certificates from equally valued programs that stayed in the drawer because they could never be confused with that most righteous of all wall adornments, the sheepskin. Although I’ve attended half-a-dozen colleges and universities in pursuit of a B.S., B.A. or just about anything else with letters behind it, I always got distracted by things like jobs and family and, in one case, pinball. I never finished, at least not yet. Having recently changed jobs and states and lifestyles, I’ve had the opportunity to reconsider much of what I have valued, and I’m not totally pleased with my findings. The career elements I’m inclined to miss most are contacts with box-seat business people and Governors and legislators and Senators and Capital Hill staffers—all experiences that made me feel good about myself, maybe even more highly than I ought! God doesn’t need me to build myself up in other people’s eyes—or in my own. Would I have had the past business successes if I’d spent less time cultivating those impressions? I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure God has always known the difference between a professional certification and a college degree, even from across the room.
JSam
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