EDIT (2:02 pm):  Funny story.  Eric called to ask me to water the lawn again today.  Of course, I obliged.  So before I left for my meeting, I ran the hose to the back yard, set up the sprinkler and started the water.  Unfortunately, I had it backward so it was watering towards our neighbors yard. Oops!  So I ran around the water to turn it around, which would’ve worked fine except that I was now directly in the water’s path.  I took a direct hit to the face/head, resoaked my recently dried hair and splattered water on my shirt.  It made me laugh though!  End Edit

I guess the best time for me to be truly honest with myself is between 3-6 in the morning. 

The bad news: I woke up last night at 4:30 and came to a somewhat shocking realization of just how stressed and pressured I am feeling right now.  Lying there, my areas of activity (Comp, Basic, Drama, Grad School, etc) took turns popping into my consciousness.  Each time, I’d experience a sense of near-panic as my brain would instantly start listing all the work I have to do in that particular area.  Even more sad, I realized that my body is starting to react to the constant strain. 

The good news: My Bible study this week has been in Hebrews 4, where it talks about entering God’s rest. 

• The dictionary I use defined that idea this way: “God’s rest is entered when a believer is confidently assured within, and outwardly lives peaceably in the assurance of God’s daily provisions.”
• Sounds like exactly what I need, doesn’t it?  And the passage then reminds us that the Israelites didn’t receive this promise (until the next generation) because they did not “combine [the message they heard from God] with faith” (4:2).  Ouch! 
• So, this morning, I am trying to stay much more in tune to the Spirit’s
  reminders that he loves me no matter what, that He alone defines my
  value, and that my definitions of failure/success are still deeply
  skewed.  If you think of it, please pray for me.  None of this changes the length of my to-do list, but I hope it will help my perspective on that to-do list immensely!

Other notes from yesterday:

• I started yesterday with 10 ungraded submissions in Basic English.  After classes, I had almost 80.
• We had an interesting discussion in grad school last night about marginalized populations (Black, Asian, Gay/Lesbian, etc.) and the canon. These types of discussions are why I’m glad I went back to grad school.  It is nice to be exposed again to views that are not all one-sided.  It’s really a challenge, though, to participate well and bring honor to Christ.  So many academics immediately discredit faith as unintellectual, so it’s a fun challenge to show that my faith actually makes me a better intellectual (I hope!). 
• I did finish that last article.  It made a bit more sense the second time through.  Then last night, my prof told us she’s decided that the book isn’t really as helpful as she’d thought it would be.  So we’re ditching it and moving up the next project.  So, no more reading of that book!   But now I have to do an 8 minute presentation next week instead of in 3 weeks.   I guess you win some, lose some…

Anyway, I have a meeting at the church at 10 this morning.  Then I’m going to try to do a lot of grading and laundry.  Then tonight will be our weekly Eureka viewing.  Yay for Tuesdays!