A first impression

School has started. I am for real a student again. I no longer have to lie to get a student discount, showing my otherwise useless student ID card (which is actually a huge moral relief for me). So, here are my feelings on school so far after one full week:

It is exciting. Being in class, reading for a purpose, writing academically (yes, I have already had one written assignment), looking around a classroom at my peers and letting the joyful awe settle in my heart – awe based on the tremendous intelligence and wisdom (and faith) that emerges from our collective devotion – are even more refreshing and life giving than I expected.

It hurts. My hand, my legs, my rear, my brain (although I learned in psychology that brains cannot feel pain properly, nevertheless they do make sense of it). I am retraining muscles that too quickly went out of use. I don't remember taking notes to be as hard as it was this past Monday in my first class. I don't remember my legs being this exhausted from traveling to school (although I blame that more on the terrain than my ability). I don't remember sitting for several hours at a time to be so uncomfortable. I don't remember waking up early to be so tiring.

It is beautiful. I rode to campus on Tuesday as the sun was rising. I am typically more of a sunset fan, but what I saw on that ride blew me away. It was potentially the most beautiful I have ever seen the sky -colors streaming over trees from a bright blue origin to proclaim and announce and trumpet the arrival of a new day. I marched around a 'lab' while singing a sort of chant and peered into the eyes and hearts of my colleagues and saw the beauty of the divine spark burning in us all.

It is comforting. I mean this in the traditional understanding of the word – 'giving strength to'. I learned in my first class that the Bayeux tapestry elucidates the full meaning of this word. A section of this tapestry shows William marching behind his troops prodding them with his sword. The caption reads: "King William comforteth his soldiers". (I searched hard but could not find a picture of this section online.) I feel this is the best summation of what I perceive this time to be. I do not feel overwhelmed at the course work or load, but rather that it is truly going to give strength to my spiritual life as both a follower of God and a minister to others. And this comforting is not restricted to the classroom alone. I have made and deepened many new friendships already, which I graciously value.

So, ultimately it is like a Snuggie. The electrifying experience of putting it on and feeling the soft fleece caress your skin (that is not merely due to static electricity), the overwhelming warmth that you just have to push through or sweat out so that you can keep wearing it all the time, the graceful design that really crafts the body into a whole new form of beauty, it's ability to soothe you softly to sleep...

And when in it, the ladies can't resist you.