Learning Beyond Letter Z

My five-year-old daughter looked up at me with bright eyes and a happy smile. “Guess what, Mom?”
“What?” I answered.
“We’re on letter T. We’re almost done learning the alphabet. I can’t believe Kindergarten is almost over!” she exclaimed.
“What?” I asked. “You think that Kindergarten ends when you get to letter Z?”
“Well, yeah. What else is there to learn when we’re done with the whole entire alphabet?” she asked.
I laughed at the innocence and beauty of my five-year-old’s mind, then explained, “Once you’re done with all the letters, you’ll learn how to use them to make words. Soon you’ll be reading. And you’ll be learning all about numbers and science and other neat things. You still have plenty left to learn in Kindergarten.”
Sometimes, I’m like my five-year-old. I think I’ve learned all I need to know through a particular experience or about a particular subject, so I should be done. But life doesn’t work that way. It wouldn’t be much of test if it did.
Sometimes, I have to trust the Master Teacher to order my lessons so that I learn and grow and continue to stretch beyond what I thought I needed to. In those moments of growth and stretching, I learn what comes after Z. And in those moments, I am blessed to get a glimpse of the potential my Master Teacher sees in me. He knows I can become so much more that what I am. But only if I’m willing to continue to the great big world of opportunities beyond letter Z.