Well, I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be. I guess that's really the only answer one can give 20 minutes before an exam. Could I have done a better job preparing? Absolutely. But there's nothing that I can do about that now.
Am I stressing? You bet. I could hardly sleep last night. But there's nothing I can do about that now.
I think part of the reason I'm this "calm" now is because of chapel this morning. The preacher gave a message on Jeremiah's imagery of God writing God's name on your heart, and it reminded me of something I heard more than once from my undergraduate chaplain.
Every commencement ceremony at American University begins with an ecumenical prayer of invocation. The Methodist chaplain has been asked for as long as I know to give the prayer for the College of Arts and Sciences. As AU began to move towards an idiotic advertising campaign that stresses that AU students are hyper specialized in their respective fields, he began to pepper his prayers of invocation with language that goes against that:
"Remind these graduates that they are not defined by what they know, but by whose they are".
I've heard that message a couple of times now, and it always brings me comfort when staring down the barrel of exams week. I am not defined by what I know. I am not defined by my GPA. I am not defined by my academic achievements or what letters I have before or after my name. I am a child of God, and that is worth more than any promotions or accolades I receive here.
Wish me luck.
Today, I saw God in a well-timed reminder that in the grand scheme of things, a midterm is nothing.
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