Most days are thoughtful for me...however, Sundays are different. Plunged into the spiritual atmosphere of going to church, I have greater opportunity to "be still and know the [I] am God." Being still is not something I am good at, nor is it something I am able to do often. So sitting in Sacrament Meeting is a special privilege. Talking to some of my spiritual mentors and confidants is a special privilege.
This Sunday was no different. Our intermediate hymn was Come, Come Ye Saints. I love that song, but this past Sunday it took on a new meaning. I have ALWAYS been a phrase girl....phrases touch my heart. Although sometimes they are taken out of the full context of the sentence or paragraph principle, I feel as though the Spirit speaks profoundly to me through a single word or phrase. The song's third verse begins with "We'll find the place which God for us prepared." I couldn't sing for a phrase or two after that....I felt the Spirit. With my dissertation if full force and applications placed all over the nation, it is a very real anxiety I feel about what the summer brings for our family. This phrase brought a lump to throat and tears to my eyes. God's voice resonated within me as I was profoundly reminded that God HAS prepared a place, a very specific place, for me and my family. I am not worried, but I am anxious.
I also have thought more about the amount of time I have left in this doctoral process....64 days, as of Sunday, until I need to have my dissertation defended and revised and into the graduate school. Sometimes that scares me to death! But I thought about how many days Joseph Smith took to translate the Book of Mormon....about the same amount of time! If God can help Joseph Smith then He can help me....I can finish this in the short amount of time I have!!
I am so close I can feel it, taste it, and am excited for it. I have even applied for the May 10 graduation....motivation!
As of tonight I am in the closing stretch of data collection. I have interviewed 11 women already and have 3 more in the next two days. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting these wonder women! It seems as though I have just gained 11 new friends. Despite the differences in we all have in life (i.e. race, ethnicity, religion, etc) there is one aspect of each our lives that connects us in an unwritten, unspoken, and stronger tie than anything else. We are mothers! The highest noblest calling reaches through time, through differences, through every living obstacle or struggle to connect all mothers in a way unexplainable to many.
I now have to write the stories....something I LOVE to do! I have been profiling all my participants, telling their stories. I have yet to analyze the data and then write up the results. I am actually excited! I am passionate about this topic and because of this passion, I love what I am doing! I am on the fast and furious track, but such has ALWAYS been my life!
1 comment:
You are amazing! To think of all you accomplish in the same amount of time that I accomplish so little...makes me want to work harder myself.......at something! Hope that someplace for you is closer to us.
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