“So we are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:6-7)
Walking by faith isn’t easy for someone with my background. It means trusting someone other than yourself…in this case, Someone. In the past several years I’ve been robbing Peter to pay Paul; oftentimes, finding Peter’s pockets empty, too. This is true financially and equally true where time is concerned.
Maybe more so.
It’s not easy being a homesteader, working towards that day when that homestead might also be a source of income; a full-time college student; a writer; blogger; minister–while also working a full-time job with a 2 hour round-trip commute. I’m not complaining, mind you. I love what I do. And I won’t always be a college student. But there are plenty of days where I wearily look at that alarm clock, that commute, the mountain of homework due by week’s end and think, “I can’t do this anymore!” Burn out happens more often than not.
The week before Christmas I caved in to that burn out. I had a two-part final paper due on plastic pollution. It was due Sunday evening by midnight (online degree program). I started working on it a couple of weeks’ in advance, researching, gathering data, pictures for the PowerPoint presentation that was due with the paper…and found myself on Sunday night thinking, “Damn! This is another all-nighter.” Exhausted, I looked at the work again, the time; my body was trembling, my head swimming with fatigue. And I made a rare decision for myself: I went to bed early, got up in the morning and handed in the assignment a day late, knowing it would mean a 10% loss of grade.
But I didn’t care. I was that tired.
Some part of my weary mind gave it over to God. He knew I’d been working on this steadily. He knew this wasn’t a case of my usual tendency to procrastinate. And, suddenly, though the lower grade didn’t sit well (I tend to be the Hermoine Granger type…), I found something in me that was willing to accept it.
Because a good night’s rest was more important.
I got a perfect score anyway. The professor’s comment started off with a “Wow!” and a “this deserves full marks”. (Okay, so I’m bragging again but, truly, it is only by His grace that I managed to get such a high mark when class policy is set for a 10% loss of final score…unless previously arranged otherwise with your instructor; this wasn’t pre-arranged.)
Anyway, I am sharing the PowerPoint presentation here. (I hope it plays okay…I’ve never tried attaching a presentation to my blog before) Though Environmental Science is my minor, each class has inspired me more in reducing my carbon footprint…and is giving me yet another direction to take this blog. Concern for the environment, for all the many species of life that are becoming extinct–or at least are classed “endangered”–due to global warming, is one of the main reasons why I homestead. I want to be part of the solution, not the problem. And, if I can raise greater awareness of the problems Mother Earth is facing today, maybe more people will take a stand and start lowering their carbon footprint, too. Enjoy!
And may God bless you & keep you!
SNHU Eliminating Plastics Presentation
PS If it cannot be opened/run via this blog, please someone leave a comment below; I will try to remedy. Thank you!
The Herbal Hare Tomestead and Animal Sanctuary 
WoW…….I love the post and the PowerPoint is fantastic! What good information ! I had no idea plastics started so early in our history. In my mind, I’ve always suspected the introduction of plastics with a concurrent rise in cancer cases……. just my personal belief, as a former chemotherapy nurse and a 25 year cancer survivor.
Actually, you would be correct as the earliest days of plastics we weren’t over-flooding our world yet. Plastics are, indeed, a carcinogen; I’m doing a little dance over here that you survived it…praise God.😊
Sometimes it becomes so easy to push ourselves far beyond our limits. The necessity to pause and take a step back just to get a little reprieve from moving at top speed is inevitable as our bodies and mind need the time for rest. Congrats on getting a grade well deserved from an understanding professor. 🙂
Thank you! Climate change is something that I’ve become so passionate about, knowing that time may well be running out. I hope I’m wrong but weather patterns have been anything but a pattern over the last 15 to 20 years. It’s scary. And I worry what kind of mess are we leaving my little nieces and others of their generation…and future ones to come.