Friday Reflection: Learning to Give In

Oh, to be the work of these hands.

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know that I often express my ever increasing frustration with Science. It seems to me as if Science is in my life to torment me and break me down to my lowest point. After numerous failed experiments causing my research project to go nowhere fast, I swear Science is basically saying "Eff you, eff your dreams, and eff everything you thought this life was about." I don't know how Science and I got here but I often wish we could just hit the relationship reset button and get back to the way they were when we first committed at Salk Institute, sharing the bliss of a promising new relationship. Yet, every other day I find myself cursing Science out for causing me so much emotional distress. *shakes fist*

I'd be lying if I said I didn't doubt my compatibility with Science. But destiny--through a series of unlikely and coincidental events--brought us together and forced us to interact. How could we NOT be meant to be together? I guess I expected this relationship with Science to be easy, or at the very least rewarding. I knew things wouldn't always be perfect or go my way, but I didn't realize I'd end most days feeling defeated and incapable of turning things from bad to good. Even when I give my best and try my hardest, the return is sometimes nothing. What the eff, Science?

But I'm forgiving, so I resolve to make the most of even the worst situations with Science. I've come too far to give up on Science, we are in this to win this (and by "win this" I mean reach "Philosophize Deez" status). I can't stop, won't stop. So as the universe would have it, the daily devotion I read last night from my boy Joel O's book  Your Best Life Begins Each Morning, hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8

...Clay works best when it is pliable, malleable, and moldable. But if you are hard, crusty and set in your ways, God will have to pound away on that old hard clay to get out the lumps. Be willing to deal with any issues that God brings up. Work with Him in refining process rather than fighting against Him.

Whether or not you believe in the Christian faith, or adhere to any religious affiliation at all, I think the general sentiment behind this can be applicable to anybody. Sometimes it takes external forces (via negative or challenging experiences) of uncomfortable shaping and shifting to get us where we need to be. And the more stubborn and willing to change we are, the more unpleasant these external forces feel. It almost never feels good to go through this process of molding at the time; but once the process is over, the resulting product is satisfying and pleasing.

I am not always willing to be shaped and molded by my creator. But I want to be. The times I have submitted to the process, I've never regretted it and was thankful for it. I accept the challenge to continue to battle it out with Science in our "it's complicated" relationship. And while I may still whine and moan and throw my hands up in despair, one thing is certain--I will not lose. *b-girl stance*

Does anyone else feel me on this? Do you see the great good behind the unfavorable circumstances you go through? Are you always willing to be formed by your experiences, despite how bad they might seem? Or does this all seem like BS to you?

Laslty, I encourage you to meditate on this, grasshoppers...

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: first by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the most bitter." - Confucius

In my potter's hands,
~Gemmie