The Real World

Most of my students in preaching are graduating. Their excitement is palpable. They take note of it in their sermons and mention it in their conversations and discussions. Most of the time they use the phrase, "As we go out into a new world" or "Now we enter the real world." How different my perspective is.
For 31 years I have been living and working in the real world. Life, death, families, marriages, problems, prejudices, change, birth, finances, budgets, etc. For the past year I have been a student. Have I moved from the real world to ... what? A false world? A sheltered world? An ivory tower? I beg to disagree. I am sitting here writing this in a suit and tie as I make plans to go to the funeral service for both the mother and father of one of the professors for whom I am a Teaching Assistant. Sounds pretty real to me. I spoke today to a young woman who is changing jobs, moving from California to Georgia, taking on a job in a mega-church setting, and uprooting her whole family. Doesn't sound very ivory tower-esque to me. When I go back to the apartment in a few hours I still have to wash the dishes, fix dinner for Joanie, and pick up the kitchen (the floor needs to be mopped). That's about as "real world" as it gets.
Life is what happens when you are living it. This life is no less real than the one a soldier in Baghdad faces today. Different? Absolutely. Less real? Not at all. Whatever is going on around you is life and it is real. It may not stack up to others in crisis but so what? Life is not a comparative venture. I don't determine the value of my life by comparing my issues to yours. My issues are, well, my life - and yours are yours.
So, stop comparing your problems or blessings to others. Live. Life is meant to be embraced and enjoyed. It is meant to be a challenge that changes all the time. It is what it is. Whatever is going on in your world is the real world. When you are going through it, that's about as real as it gets.