Tetelestai!

Think back eight years. What were you doing then? How has life changed for you in these past 8 years.
My past 8 years has included most of high school, all of college, and a year in the real world. Talk about a life-changing experience! Yet through these past 8 years, the burden of The Exam has been on me. It hasn’t always been a heavy burden. But it comes and goes. Sometimes in the back of my mind, sometimes in the forefront, sometimes taking it over entirely and running with it the subject of a different blog.
But now the exam is done. Words cannot describe the elation I felt. At least in English. The Greek tetelestai (te-TELL-es-tie) fits aptly. Someone famous used that phrase once – what he went through before uttering the word makes my 5 months of stress seem like heaven. Even that word couldn’t start describing the elation he went through when “It is finished” (the English translation of the 3rd person singular, perfect active indicative of teleo).
The small group crew went out to eat afterwards to celebrate. Walking across town felt so freeing – I’m not doing flash cards now. And God knows if I’ll ever have to do them again. The weather felt like it would storm – so what? The exam is done! I don’t know exactly where this eatery is – so what? The exam is done! That mantra became my response to any problem encountered. A couple weeks later, some of the adrenaline has worn off. But the joy hasn’t. What if, as Christians, our response to personal difficulties would be – so what? Christ has died for my sins and I’ll spend an eternity with him!
Many people have asked me what I’ll do with myself after the exam is over. That is a very legitimate question. As much as actuaries might sometimes dislike taking exams, they do provide discipline and order to one’s life, a sense that one’s time is spent in a worthwhile endeavor. My initial response mentions the 50-item list of “opportunities after exam” formerly called “to-do list after exam,” but that title was too discouraging. This fairly broad list, created sporadically and wishfully throughout the study process, encompasses a wide array of activities, from taking classes to reading books to visiting people to blogging.
God has provided so many opportunities in life. Perhaps he will stick something in my face and ask me: “Go, do this.” Sometimes he works that way. Oftentimes, though, he gives us opportunities and it is our responsibility to initiate and pursue them, actively seeking his will.
Readers, I have some questions and a request for you. Most of you haven’t taken these exams, but maybe you are wrestling with some of these same questions. What have you come up with? How do you balance leisure and productivity outside of a highly-structured environment? How do you seek relevant ways to serve the Kingdom while making time for friends and family and having fun?
The request has to do with accountability. While I am attempting to wrestle with these dilemmas, actively engaging in life, there is also something in me which wants to plop down on the futon all evening, doing nothing, thinking about nothing. So as readers who also know me in real life, you are not only welcome but encouraged at any point to ask me how I’m doing with this, what I’m going through now, etc. Regardless of how it’s actually going, I’ll probably figure out a somewhat honest answer which will make you happy. But the shrewd ones among you are, well, shrewd.
Speaking of shrewd, can you spot my newly-graduated sister in the crowd?