The envelope please...

**Watched the Academy of Country Music Awards the other night (yeah...I'm a closet country music lover.) It got me thinking about this post I started a while back that I never finished. Here goes...

I made a comment to one of my youth group girls the other day that has had me pondering. She is about to finish up her first year of college, and I was congratulating her on this achievement. Then I went on to lament, "I miss those days when there was an end to things, and a sense of accomplishment when it was finished--like completing a new level in your education."

Since then, I've been asking myself, "What did I really mean by that?" What I'm realizing is that for most of my life, I have been trained to look for the end to things--the next level of achievement. I was in the educational system up until the age of 25, either as a student or a teacher. And, in this system, you become trained to always to focus on the end goal and the next level of achievement.

I kind of loved this system. I like having tangible proof that I have worked hard or that I have talent. In fact, it's been a consistent motivator in my life. Thus, my reign as the 1990 Regional Spelling Bee Champion...


...and various other such titles of victory in this-or-that.

So, that led me to this next thought: What if there were levels of achievement in life? What if we were all working from the same system which awarded us for each rank completed? What would it look like if there was a standard of progression that we all were working to attain?

I picture all of us attending the Annual Academy Awards for Achievement in ___________ (you fill in the blank: parenthood, marriage, friendship, relationship with God, kindness to little old ladies, eating more whole grains, remembering to floss, etc.) All would be recognized who achieved the next level in the progression. We would all hold our breath as we waited to hear our names.

"And now, in recognition of the elevation of her status from fair to good in the area of housecleaning, we honor Kaley Ehret!" Then would come the tears and the thanking of the academy...

Oh dear. This is going nowhere good. (Especially since I am definitely putting off housework right now so I can finish this blog...there goes my award.) I'm going to stop now.

But hey--I'm thinking about holding the First Annual Academy Awards for Achievement in Coupon Cutting sometime soon. I recently upgraded from horrible to could be worse. Anyone want to join me on the red carpet?