11/14/2005

Not knowing when the dawn will come. . .

I open every door. (Emily Dickinson)

This quote was on my daily calendar today, and I liked it.

All in all, it wasn't a horrible day. There was a steady stream of annoyances that eventually added up to exhaustion and a headache, but no major crises. My grading is. . .not done. Progress reports are due tomorrow, so I need to be finishing that now. On the bright side, the Vo-tech people are giving presentations in all the 10th and 11th grade English classes tomorrow, so I should be able to get a lot of work done during the day. Perhaps my desk will even find its way to cleanliness!

Sometimes I wonder if I'm being selfish and need to be more ministry-minded. Then I open a literature book and see my name and person desecrated in the cover. Not to take it personally, it still makes me question why people do this. Then my better side argues back, declaring something about the longsuffering of God's servants through history. If service were always easy and pleasant, would it still be service? Does my discomfort and frequent distaste make my task less holy? Or, perhaps, more so?

I'm rebelling against my own better judgment. Let's pretend I didn't just make any of those arguments.

We're still shooting for a free weekend, followed by a free Thanksgiving Break. . .which means I should get busy and grade now. Perhaps that dawn Emily spoke of is just around the corner.

1 comment:

Naomi Joy said...

They write bad things about you in the front of their books? Bah humbug. That's horrible.

Methinks the task is holy because it's the task God gave you and isn't made less or more holy depending on how you feel about it. In fact, perhaps it's like marriage and how you feel about it is working to make you more holy. My measly two pennies, there.

Good luck on your free weekend! I forget what you're doing for Thanksgiving. I'm driving 2000 miles....wanna come?