Mountains and Valleys

about today...

It's late, and I'm tired to the point that I really should go to bed, but I'm just not ready to sleep yet. My mind is all worked up and I know that if I were to fall asleep now, it wouldn't be restful nor peaceful. Let me explain why.
Today was (by mild definition) not a very good day. Bible class (which is first period) went without a hitch, but my school has a big brother/big sister program, of which I am a big sister. Now, the girl I am a mentor to is very sweet and is by no means the problem, but during the orientation, another new girl constantly kept getting under my skin until I wished she were somewhere on an island in the Pacific Ocean. Not very nice, I know, and she's constantly in my prayers, but she was so argumentative and whiney to the principal, of all people. Well, that was just the tip of the iceberg. If I wasn't searching for some way to start this blog, I wouldn't even have mentioned it.
Next, we had English. Normally, I don't mind English because no matter how boring it can be, it's easy. This morning, however, we had a substitute teacher, and although she was a very nice lady, after taking an in-depth look at all the comparisons in "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards, I was reminded of the rude awakening I was in for when I started college English. But again, this really wasn't one of the worst parts of my day.
The period after English, I was in Choir instead of Drama. (I'm auditing Drama, so I was persuaded to do Choir on Tuesdays and Thursdays to be the necessary first soprano they were lacking. Honestly, am I the only one who can hit that G?) Well, I don't think anybody but myself really noticed it, but I just could not completely grasp the melody of our new song. I'm appreciative of Mrs. Pinto's breathing tips which make me louder, but I'm also having to relearn a lot of things about singing, and it's giving me little pains about hitting notes exactly. However, this was only before lunch, and I still managed to have enough of an appetite to shove down the school's rotini and meatballs, meaning I wasn't all that upset. Yet.
Computers (probably the easiest but most pointless class on my schedule) was fine. Almost fun and relaxing, in fact. In Trig, though, we were finishing up a test. (we actually had two quizzes and a test in my three hardest classes yesterday, but surprisingly, yesterday wasn't all that bad) I know I missed at least two of the questions, probably more due to my unbreakable habit of committing foreseeable and easily preventable errors in my problems. Besides that, I know I didn't fully understand the homework tonight.
Spanish III. The one class where I've managed to ace a quiz this year (excepting Bible, English, Choir, and Computers). We had a quiz over the subjunctive case, which I understood quite well and got 100% on. However, we have a journal entry due tomorrow, which I was unable to finish because I didn't bring my book home, thinking my folder would be enough, and then I neglected to bring my folder home. But at least I remembered my notebook...which turned out to be completely useless. *rolls eyes* We also have a vocab quiz tomorrow, but I think I'm ready for it. Then again, you never know.
Physics. We started a new section today, after a quiz that frustrated us all to pieces yesterday. The class itself would have been fine, if I hadn't choked on nothing but water (yes, we're allowed to have water during school) in the middle of it and coughed for two minutes straight! You know the phrase "it happens to everyone"? Yeah, well, it happens to me a lot. Plus, I didn't comprehend my Physics homework at all. I'll be alright once Mrs. Hillman does them all on the board tomorrow, but it's extremely frustrating for me right now.
After school, I had to meet with the youth pastor at the church (not CCF, the school's youth pastor) to help plan See You at the Pole, which is next Wednesday. That went altogether well, and I'm sure it'll all go fine, but if you could just pray about that for me, I'd appreciate it.
So the meeting went well, but it made me late to volleyball practice, where I just could not seem to do anything right. Come to think of it, volleyball practice seems like a very good culprit to pinpoint my sore back on. Oh, and we have a game tomorrow. Not to mention the hayride which, because I'm on Student Council, I'm somewhat helping to run once we get done with the volleyball game.
But none of this broke me. In fact, I probably would have been just fine if it hadn't been for the incident when I got home from school.
I was driving the camry, like I sometimes do on the way home from school. I had done just fine and was backing it into the garage, and I thought I was too close to the van on the right side, when really I was too close to the side of the garage on the left. as I was backing in, I broke the sideview mirror off.
Then I broke. I mean locked in my room, sobbing on my bed like I haven't for months, broke.
So after about 15 minutes of this and realizing I wasn't going to get over it by going catatonic, I did what I always do to relax and get my mind back into functioning order: I took a shower. And then, as things somehow always manage to when you're in the shower, everything arranged itself in the correct order in my head, and I came to this conclusion:
I am not a victim. I really don't have any right to feel sorry for myself, and if this is as bad as my bad days get, then I'm lucky! I am so blessed, and I forget that all the time. I ought to be grateful for the chance to go to WCS and be challenged, not vexed because I find the work difficult. I need to realize that it's a privelege for me to be on Student Council and have the authority and the organizational skills to put things together for the school. And no matter how stressful or how much it loads up my time, God will always find a way to pull me through it, along with giving me ideas on how to lead the events I have to plan and supervise. Volleyball has been many of the many joys I've discovered this year, even if I'm not as good as Misty May and that other girl, and I should be pleased with my progress for my first year. And as for the car, many people around the world have never had and will never get the opportunity to drive. How can I have the audacity to take that for granted? As for my back...well, sooner or later, God will provide me with a husband, and I'll appreciate the back-rubs he gives me all the more because of it. (at least, he'd better give me back-rubs)
So the purpose of listing the shortcomings of my day was not to vent, though that certainly wound up being a perk. It wasn't to complain and ask for sympathy, either. It was to remind you all that no matter how difficult life can seem, there's always a purpose behind it. The valleys might seem horrid and troublesome while we're in them, but the view at the top of the mountain is always worth the struggle.
- Becca