A Psalm of Life

'Life that shall send
A challenge to its end,
And when it comes, say, 'Welcome , friend.'


What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist

I
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

II
Life is real - life is earnest -
And the grave is not its goal:
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

III
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destin'd end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

IV
Art is long, and time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

V
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

VI
Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act - act in the glorious Present!
Heart within, and God o'er head!

VII
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives subline,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footsteps on the sands of time.

VIII
Footsteps, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwreck'd brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

IX
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1838, 1839)

Cell Phone Sadness

So... this is the current state of my cell phone. Tuesdays in general are very long days, this one more so than others due to various meetings and happenings. This tragedy occurred roughly ten minutes before I had to be at my two and half hour night class. I was pulling my keys out of my bag to open the elevator, my phone snagged on them and crashed to my dismay to the floor in two pieces. This phone has been my dearest friend for at least two years. In its defense, the hinge was severely crashed and the antenna was already broken off and I was considering starting to look for a new phone, but I was just hoping that it would wait until I found a new one before it died.

On a side note: I will be working again! The pool reopens September 5^th and tonight we worked out the hours for lifeguarding. I am still not sure when I will be teaching as the lessons do not start up for a few more weeks. I have private lessons already lined up for next weeks. That is welcome cash as well as a bright shining moment in my day. I love teaching swim lessons.

Also, I am really enjoying being an RA. It is a lot more work than I thought it would be. Because of the layout of the floor I have to go out of my way to see the girls and to spend time with them. This is never a problem because they are so much fun. I really love it when I’m on duty and have to do rounds; it’s a wonderful time to meet people in the building.

I also thing I will really enjoy my classes. It is going to be a challenge to keep up with everything that I am doing. I think I will really enjoy my homework; it’s just a matter of having enough time in the day to give each class the time it truly needs. And I need to remember to get enough sleep. It’s really exciting that this is my senior year. After this it’s grad school and then the rest of my life!

It’s like a brand new me!

I bought a new pillow and a foam pad for my bed. It’s revolutionary. I feel like a new woman after having slept in that wonderfully cushy bed. I just feel so joyous.

It's all about Thursdays.

I think Thursday night will be my night to update this blog. It has been established that it will be my duty night for the semester. Meaning that from 8 PM Thursday until 8 AM Friday morning I am on call with a beeper and that I also have to do rounds at various times throughout the evening. Throughout the semester we also have three weekends that we have to take, well we trade them with our usual shift. I rather like the system. We’ll see how it works. I am a little nervous about doing rounds. I will update your more about that when I complete my first night on duty. Although since my first night is a weekend it means I will be doing my last walk-through at 2:20 AM. I’ll have to remember to thank Rachel for teaching me the value of late night adventures this summer, because I am not the least bit worried about having to stay up until 2:30 in the morning.

This ties in with the post below.

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

Psalm 118:8 (NKJV)

Amy just send me an email highlighting the importance of this verse and I couldn’t help but noticed how it fit in directly with what I just posted. I believe I may just have to put this up on my wall somewhere. It was such an encouragement for me that I had to pass it on.

Unexpected Blessings.

Today while on my very short break between my Resident Assistant training sessions I received a phone call from the aquatics director from a nearby pool. This particular pool is only open until September 17^th (around the time the pool here at school will reopen) and much of their current staff is returning to school and will not be able to finish out the season. My wonderful aquatics director here referred me to this pool and now I have a way to make some unexpected money. I will walk over on the 28^th to meet with the director and get to know the pool area. This is such a huge blessing.

Also, I received an email from my pastor back in my church in Washington, D.C. I have been awarded a grant from the church.

Both of these things were such wonderful news. I find it so wonderful to be reminded that when I stop worrying and start trusting in God that He does indeed remember and take care of me.

“My shoulders feel interesting.”

I was walking back with my friend; we were both carrying the last load of stuff from my old room. We had been helping people move all afternoon. When discussing how we were feeling, R mentions that her shoulders felt “interesting.” I thought this was a marvelous way to describe the pain felt after working hard, as we had been doing.

For most of the afternoon and evening (excluding a break for supper) my friends Adam, Joe and R and I helped each other move. R had moved the day before, but she was an angel and helped the rest of us move. Joe had been able to obtain the use of a little mini golf cart / truck. We managed to transport the bulk of my stuff in one truckload. This was phenomenal considering that I had carried most of this stuff over with a handcart by myself when moving at the beginning of the summer. In fact, most of us had stories of the original move this summer being a torturous lonely process.

After I had all of my belongings relocated Adam and I decided to take advantage of the school’s $3 movie day special down the street. We watched Scoop, a very funny movie.

Then around midnight Adam and I helped our friend Rachel move the last of her belongings to her new room. She hadn’t been able to start moving until must later then the rest of us, so we told her we’d help with the hard part. She had already moved most of the stuff to the base of her new residence hall, but it’s the carrying heavy items up three stories that is the treacherous part.

Finally after this was complete, we lay on the grass watching beautiful mysterious clouds pass in front of a full moon. We debated sleeping on the grass, but in the long run ended up grabbing a drink at our favorite watering hole and each parting ways to our respective halls. It was sad; we had spent the whole summer walking back to the same building. Adam had been on a different floor, but we would often sit in the stair way and talk. I miss them already, even though we are all still on campus.

Chaos rains.

Well, not really. But sort of.

Throughout the summer there have been two-week orientation gatherings for the incoming freshmen. One of the usual leaders was unable to be there for this Monday and Tuesday’s session, so the Student Activity Director asked me to fill-in. It was a little crazy, but a lot of fun. I really enjoyed getting to know the students. It was interesting seeing how they interacted with their parents while also remember how last year’s freshmen acted after their parents left.

I am also moving into my RA room tomorrow. I got the key tonight and my friend, Adam, helped me rearrange the room so I think everything will be fantastic for the rest of the year. It just now need to transport my stuff most of the way across campus to my new room.

The chaos factors in when you consider the fact that I was stressed because I didn’t know what I was doing for half of the orientation. I had a blast and loved getting to know people more one-on-one the second day, but I still felt a little chaotic inwardly. I surprised myself though by acting on four skits with about 20 minutes notice and doing (If I say so myself) rather well. We were all reading our lines so there wasn’t that pressure. I was just worried about saying them loud and clear enough.

Chaos also factors in this week because I wasn’t informed of when or if I could move into my RA room until this afternoon. I thought I had most of this week free to get project done and so far I haven’t had much time to do anything. Oddly enough I have found random moments to get stuff done. I woke up early so that I wouldn’t be late this morning and ended up having enough time to look up all the Bible verses I want to consider for my floor’s monthly themes. I will probably share more of this as I work through my plans.

Tomorrow morning as well as pack, move and unpack I am lifeguarding for the basketball camp kids that are going to take a swim break. The pool is officially closed, but we’re opening for events like this. I am glad the director asked me to do this because I don’t have a paying job until the pool opens again it’s kind of nice to get an unexpected pay check, even a small one. (BY THE WAY – not having a job does not mean that I have zero money. Sure, I don’t have a surplus of spending money, but I am not going to starve, so don’t panic.)

On A Side Note

Today while eating dinner out with two friends I witnessed my one friend experience outright racism. This particular friend is rather accustomed to such ignorance to circumstances I will not be posting on this blog, at least not at this time. But for me it really brought home the larger issues of ignorance and racism happening in American and abroad. I’m really disgusted by this and have been mulling over it all evening.

This may interest some of you.

Yesterday afternoon I decided it was just too hot to stay on campus and called darling Andrea to ask if I could come out to visit her. She agreed that this was wonderful idea and soon enough I found myself on a train heading to the western suburbs. We ate a delightful dinner, swam in her pool and went to bed early. It was lovely. Also, worth noting, I took a hot shower for the first time in ages. I had forgotten that it could be nice to be warm.

After breakfast I now have to head back to school… to the humid, heavy heat.

The not so beachy adventure.

Yesterday my friend and I had been planning a trip to the beach. (Some background knowledge: It was probably one of the hottest days of the year – 98 degrees or so.) A few friends were originally going to join us, but at the time of leaving decided to remain on campus. Rachel and I packed our bags, planned our route, which bus we would take and so on. We had plenty of water, snacks and sun block. We walked the four or five blocks to the bus stop and waited. We waited probably half an hour or more. (We had forgotten to check the bus schedule.) In the process of waiting for the bus we got so hot that we decided to go get ice cream across the street. Well, I got ice cream at least. While doing this we decided that maybe it would be a better idea to go back to campus and watch a movie in the furnished basements of one of the dorms, particularly the one with AC.

It's the small things.

Last night something amazing happened. I slept through the night without waking up because of the heat. I didn’t roll between the still air and the fierce stream of cool air artificially created by the fan blasting at the head of my bed. I usually struggle to find the middle comfortable zone. I also struggle with sticky sheets and in general, falling asleep under the blanket of humidity that hovers all over my room.

Last night, I slept in a room with AC. My friend lives in this glorious building that I will soon reside in because next week we are all moving to our rooms for the school year. It was phenomenal. I slept through my friend’s alarm and her leaving for work. It was amazing. I haven’t slept that deep in a long time.