April — Transition Time

In many ways, April is a time for transition. Although the weather can be tricky during April, especially up here in the Upper Midwest, the precipitation that we have is generally in the form of rain rather than snow. Just this past week here in Minnesota, we have had several days of rain. The grass is turning green and the buds are begin to come out on the trees. It won't be long before we store our snow blower and start firing up our lawnmower. Nancy has already prepared the ground around last year's new deck in order to plant flowers and the like. And we are also planning to put a coat of protective sealant on our new deck as soon as we get some warm, dry weather.

But April also represents other transitions as well. In the academic realm, these next few weeks are the last weeks of the school year. If you are a senior in high school, you are anticipating graduation from high school and perhaps planning to attend college in the fall. The last few weeks of high school can be pretty exciting, but you are also beginning to realize that there many changes in the offing. As for college seniors, what has been a four (or five, or six!) year academic journey is finally coming to a conclusion. With graduation from college comes the excitement (and sometimes a little anxiety) of figuring out what you are going to do with your life. For many college graduates, getting married or getting a job are at the top of the "to do" list.

And for those of us who teach, the end of another school year represents the culmination of sharing our academic expertise with a unique group of students. While we will teach some of those students in the coming years, other students will be graduating from college or will choose to attend another insitution. For me, the end of the school year has always been a time of great rejoicing. It is satisfying to finish up classes and bring the academic year to a close. This will mark the end of my thirty-fifth year of teaching, but with every graduation there is a little sadness as you say farewell to students whom you might not ever see again. You hope and pray that God will protect them and bless their lives. For them, in a way, their adult lives are just beginning (which is why we call graduation "commencement"), but for those of us who teach, it is a reminder that the years of our lives are continuing to add up.

Indeed, April is a time of transition.