Perfect Day

Today has been a wonderful day. I haven't had many like it since school kicked in and assignments piled up. A big source of stress this year has been my thesis--I feel like I'm thinking about it every other moment. I've been so frustrated at times that I've broken down and cried because I didn't know what to do.

But today was a good day. The sun was warm and bright. The colour of the leaves are at their prime. Looking at them makes me happy and I feel calm.

Thanksgiving Weekend is finally coming up and I get to go home again! I've felt more homesick this year than any other year, and I think it's because I know my time at Queen's is drawing to a close. I know I have a fifth year waiting, but I'm treating this year like my last year. I never know, it might be.

Yesterday morning, my devotional featured a woman named Simone Weil. She wrote an essay titled "Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God." Her main concept is this: "All academic pursuits train the mind to focus its full attention on the problem or the task at hand. This focus of attention is the very substance of prayer in which God is the subject. In this way, learning has a value in and of itself, as a lower means. But it also trains one to give the necessary attention to the higher end: loving God in prayer."

As I reflected on this in relation to my thesis, it dawned on me that I was not doing my thesis for my thesis supervisor. I was writing it for God. God is my ultimate thesis supervisor, and I should find joy in serving Him through my work on my thesis. This little breakthrough has changed my attitude towards the seemingly insurmountable task of a thesis. And it's just beginning...

A familiar reminder: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23-24