So it's spring break around Fuller this week. Last week the weather was in the 90s. Yes, the 90s in March. I'm still not used to this weather - at all!

This place is reminding me a lot of a ghost town. Actually, I think what I find the most intriguing about Fuller this week is the lack of stress in the air. You could literally feel it the last few weeks. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that either. I mean, I am all about being at an academic institution, but I'm not sure if anyone here has really learned how to deal effectively with stress (author included). I like to think I deal with it well, but frankly, we all could use to learn a bit about stress and it's causes (and effects).

(This thought that's about to follow may not be something everyone at Fuller would agree with - please keep this fact in mind.) Grades are not everything in life. I remember walking into the gym room my junior year of high school following our honors physics test - a test in which almost our entire class failed, we later learned. All the girls walked into the room discussing each and every question that had baffled us, each time we were ready to cry during the test, and what grades we had previously had, so we could determine our quarter's grade. Then the moment of realization happened. "You know, I bet 10 years from now I won't think about this test, what grade I got on it. It won't matter to me then."

Well, I do remember the grade. I still remember the whole conversation with Ashley, Julie, Beth, Cathie, Lynette and others. Actually, I still am a bit mad I didn't study more for the test. I should have studied more, but that's life.

But the realization came for me that whether I studied or not for the exam is not nearly as important as the process. I needed to learn during that period of time that learning is the end goal, not the grade. It sounds so cliche and simplistic, but it's a part of life and studies that I struggle with, and my guess is more than I should.

Whether or not you want a PhD, Mdiv, or auditing a course, the challenge here is why are you at seminary? As I prepare to enter into a new quarter, I hope I begin with the desire not only to learn, but to learn well. That may not mean an A in every class, but it will mean working really hard - and wrestling with that perfectionistic heart of mine. It'll be a hard road, no doubt.