How do I look?

The first thing I did when I received word about my last exams was run down to Deb´s house and put on this fantastic graduation robe and mortarboard! It felt good to somehow live a long life dream to wear this wonderful ensemble of recognition of effort and reaching the finishing line!

Coming from Guernsey, where there isn´t that tradition of "graduation" after secondary school like there is in the United States, I have to agree that I find it to be both a lack and a loss in the British Educational System. Acknowledgment of completion is so valuable and vital to self esteem, personal growth and positive insertion into society (or subsequent studies) It is true though, that upon completing a degree or higher education the robe and mortarboard are used but needless to say, the majority of British citizens are left without any kind of celebration after finishing secondary school and subsequently thrust into the working world with but a smile and a promise!

So I believe that I am not alone amongst my patriots, to have dreamed about wearing this "acclaimed" attire someday and I felt like now was a justifying kind of a moment to license me to dress up!

Now, I haven´t completed any degree or anything amazing. No letters at the end of my name... which actually is a good thing because surname has enough letters to satisfy even the thirstiest of letter lovers.... but I am excited with my achievements: no matter how minor. Sadly, I do have to concede that one looks grossly overweight in one of these things, as the above picture clearly depicts!

But joking aside, I feel truly excited about wearing it even though it seems a little silly. I imagine this is how God would wish us to feel when He clothes us with the robe of sonship/daughership because we are no longer called slaves, but sons and if sons...then heirs to the living God!

I leave you with this famous quote:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. "

~Marianne Williamson,

A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles," 1992 (commonly misattributed to Nelson Mandela, 1994 inauguration speech)