The Tree

I have been reading in Romans lately and just got stuck the other day on this image presented of a tree, and how we are little shoots that are attached near the roots at the bottom. Others may be the big natural branches, some of which have broken off and are no longer being fed from the roots because they aren't connected. It goes on to talk about how we, the little shoots attached to the roots should not be arrogant because of our attachment to the root because GOD is perfectly able to graft all broken branches back into their place.

I thought this was the coolest image ever. I immediately got this picture in my mind of this huge tree with branches and roots going every which way, most of which attached with stitches (the medical background coming into play). But what I really love about this is these branches are all connected and sustained by, first and foremost the root, but every branch and shoot is also connected to all of the others, intertwined in their existence. This is the epitome of community, of how we are called to live. We can't survive apart from our root, but we can live without other branches. But, we really shouldn't want to because it's painful to lose a limb and it throws the balance of the tree off. The reattachment hurts as well. The grafting requires scraping away of material that has gotten rotten and damaged to find a new, growing surface. But when that limb is returned to its place, the tree is made whole, the entire body of it flourishes, and its balance is restored.

This is not just for those we deem worthy of our tree. GOD has formed this tree, not me. I am just a little shoot, thankful to be sucking life from its roots.

End of Semester Review

Oh man it's been a while! I guess PA school doesn't leave much time for updates. But nonetheless, here it goes:

I have one more full week of class and 3 days of tests until I'm officially done with my first semester of PA school! It has been challenging but so awesome and rewarding at the same time. I spend a lot of time studying, but as the semester progressed, I learned exactly how much I needed to study vs how much I could still kind of have a life. Gross Anatomy lab has been a lot of fun. It's awesome getting to see how things lay out inside of us, and the way GOD put it all together and made it work. I think it is a tie for my favorite class along with our Clinical Medicine.

Clin Med has been fun just because it's in that class where we have learned all of our physical exam techniques. Needless to say, all of my family and friends are getting full physicals when I come home for break because I need practice! Today, our second year students had to perform the full physical on us as patients in 30 min, reciting everything they were testing or looking for as they performed each thing. It was intense.

In other news, I'm really excited because for the next year (the rest of my didactic year), my old roommate Jenny and her pup Joplin are moving back to Mobile and will be my new roomies!!! Praise GOD for awesome friends and awesome blessings!

Until next time....