My Wall

Me, this afternoon:  Argh.  I can't believe the stupid lab session went 45 minutes overtime.  It's completely unnecessary for a Master's Degree program to have this many class hours as it is, and an extra 6 hours of lab time eating up my afternoon's is ridiculous...and when the labs go overtime....grrrr.  I'm getting tired.  There's too many assignments to do.  I'll never be able to finish all this by myself.

The Israelites, thousands of years ago, rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem:  "The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves." (Nehemiah 4:10)

The Israelites complained about the weariness that comes with rebuilding a wall from rubble - and yet they continued working.  They were rebuilding a wall, stone by stone, surrounded by enemies threatening to invade;  I'm collecting information about minority languages, word by word, surrounded by Buddhists.  My task might not require heavy lifting, but it can be tedious and frustrating, and the tenor of my complaints sounds, to my ears, like those of the Israelites.  I doubt I'll ever stop complaining about the labs, but at least now I can approach them deliberately, like a mason approaches his pile of bricks, When I pick up the tools of my trade, I will "Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious." (Neh. 4:14)