Day 109
I’m in my last full semester of classes for my M.S. in speech-language pathology (before a year of clinical placements) and am having more and more of those “Why am I doing this?” and “Do I really want to be doing this for the rest of my life?” moments. These usually occur after bombing out on a neuro test or during a dust dry class on the ins and outs of bureaucracy, the intracacies of Medicare, and laws with names like PL 94-142 , or when I am struggling with finding the appropriate jargon to use while filling out a client report. Paperwork is the bane of my existence.
It’s times like those when my thoughts flirt with dropping out and moving to, oh, I don’t know. Somewhere in the South Pacific where no one cares about what the glossopharyngeal nerve innervates or who should get Medicaid benefits or if you’ve filled out your therapy summary with the correct terminology. ‘Course, since I tend to be inordinately practical (and very much in debt), those thoughts don’t last long. . .
On the top of my bookcase in my little studio apartment sits a picture from last semester, taken of us clinicians with the kiddos in our early literacy and language program. It’s a cute picture of our bright-eyed 4 and 5 year-olds, but to me it means a whole lot more than just that. Those kids were my first clients; they were the ones who taught me that I would love what I do. Like any children, they could be trantrum-y and snotty (both literally and figuratively), but when they “got” the concepts we worked so hard to teach them, when they threw their arms around me, when I saw their smiles and heard their belly giggles, I forgot about the downside of the job – the paperwork, the hard classes, the long-winded education laws. I just saw the kids.
I saw the good moments.
So, that picture is an encouragement to me. Yes, there is a monotonous side to the work, but what job doesn’t have that? I look at those faces beaming up at me, and I recall the Lord’s leading me. To Milwaukee. To this school. To this profession. And not just to a profession – to a minstry to people for the glory of God.
Phil 3:14 “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (NAS)
Made for Eternity 