Qualifications

Picking up my parents local paper today I read this article.

"Girl in year ten at *LOCAL SCHOOL* gets singing coaching qualification. whilst many would not attempt the qualification until many years later this girl did. with a smiling face in front of a piano"

My stomach lurched I couldn't  believe it. I was under the impression that they wouldn't let you do it until you were 18 anyway and I at 18 years and 6.5 months was one of the youngest ever to attempt it and to pass with Merit. I wasn't even sure what I thought of the article or that the board had even let her take the qualification as you would not be able to get insurance to teach or  be able to have your own business teaching anything like that until you were 18  she would not be able to earn money until after her 16th birthday. Did they bend the rules? there were so many questions in my head none of which I could answer.

Then I thought about the qualification I had  and how like its certificate it is gathering dust somewhere. Does it matter that this girl did it or does it matter more what is next how she uses it? I failed to use it really and perhaps God has other plans for it.

I thought about all the certificates I have and what they mean. I have many letters after my name, but none of them matter if i do nothing with them. If my Geography GCSE and history degree are worth no more than a few pub quiz answers what does that make me. Clearly I use them for more than that - with a good understanding of maths I can make sure I get value for money. With my geography GCSE I can make sense of the lines on the weather map. you get the idea.

In this season God has been apprenticing me but I have no idea what for but what I have learnt could be applied in all sorts of ways, and there is still some to come. However, what matters is not my learning or achievement but my willingness to love, my desire to walk in his way and the only qualification that matters is that I love him and I do.