Reflections on my Math Test

How did my test go, you ask? Well, suffice it to say that I now have something in common with Edison. Unfortunately it is not in the intelligence department. Edison said that he never had a failure, just a multitude of opportunities to find a way it doesn't work. Well, I had the same success on my last math exam. Nearly half the answers were new revelations on how numbers shouldn't be combined. To put it simply - my light went out. How can I be so philosophical about the first test in my life that I have actually failed? Well, this is only the first test that was graded by a fellow human being that I have ever failed. I think there have been many instances where my heavenly professors are shaking their heads and wondering aloud -"do you think she will ever really get it?" Hopefully the Lord allows a lot of extra credit. Hmmm....do you think that is where the Atonement fits in?

The Nelson family recently gave me a gift certificate to Bear Mill - St. George's version of Build a Bear. We went there for Chelsea's birthday and had a great time. I had recently visited the Golden Compass site and found that my daemon is a fox, so naturally, that is what we built. Kristen named her Roxy the Foxy Coed and we put a little letterman's jacket on her. I bought the DSC pin and Dixie College socks at the bookstore and she now adorns my bookcase sitting next to her hiking bear counterpart. I haven't received the words of wisdom that a daemon is supposed to supply but she brings me a lot of joy. She reminds me of the fun part of this school experience, and as my stomach has a tendency to knot up Sunday nights in anticipation of the looming school week, I need that.

Sometimes Do You Think You Have To Do It All?

I think that this picture just about sums up my first couple of weeks back in school. I have been overwhelmed and ready to quit because the load was not only heavy, but incomprehensible as well (I have a college algebra class and I could swear it was being taught in a foreign language). Upon self-reflection, blended with a fast, I realized that I had left the One who really does put the sun in the sky, out of the equation. I am not here to do it all myself and this moment in my life is less than the blink of an eternal eye. I probably had similar panicky feelings as I began 7th grade, kindergarten, or even learned to walk. I read in Corinthians today that "So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." My professors plant the seed, I water with study - but ultimately it is the Lord who gives me understanding.
I can sit here safely in my office this beautiful Sabbath evening, basking in the afterglow of a Spirit-filled day and wonder how I ever feared. The trick will be to retain these feelings as I face my Algebra exam on Tuesday, Grammar exam on Wednesday (tell me again what an adverb is?), and Geography exam on Thursday (how many degrees does earth tip on its axis from the elliptical plane?).
I will post a picture reflective of my success in the future. Meanwhile, I keep chanting my mantra - and this too shall pass.