meg and biology

Woo Hoo! Today I FINALLY got to hang out with my bestie Meg (albeit for only 1/2 hour, but still)!! She, John and baby Ethan came to visit me at work on my lunch break! Ethan is a very well behaved, happy baby and sat in Auntie Jones' lap the whole time and only cried once to get more attention, at which time, we gave him, and he stopped. (duh, look how happy he is in my lap!!)

Tonight, I successfully crashed my (sigh) prereq (of another prereq course) Biology 120. I am happy that I got in, but I am sad I have to give up my Tuesday and Thursday nights- still better though than every night. After basically 5 hours of straight listening to the teacher amuse and pleasure himself by the sound of his own incessant voice, I was thus forced into my favorite past time of mentally discovering ways that science relates to the gospel.

As fun as this was to do in the social science realm during undergrad, honestly, I think it will be on a whole new level with the applied sciences. For starters, everything is labeled and objectively categorized already, so it makes comparison to the gospel a piece of cake! (With Sociology, this always required a bit of abstract thought).

So here is my discovery tonight: in the scientific method, we talked a lot about how when you design an experiment, you must isolate the variable being tested. Not only does such an experimental design require a lot of careful planning, but the experimenter or scientist must watch and record every detail of the test to ensure accurate results.

As far as application to the gospel goes, God sent us here to be tested, and we experience trials that isolate and test certain variables in each of our lives. Many of us have felt that, as we go through difficult trials, some variables (namely weaknesses) seem unfairly isolated and concentrated on. I have felt this way many times. Yet, once passed through, the trial seems to fit perfectly into the grand design of our life. My sister in law Jyness tells me frequently that she is perplexed when she ponders just how amazing it is that the trials she has are just the ones she needs, and how the design of all of it, the intracacy blows her mind. Heavenly Father, as the master of the Universe, I'd say is quite the scientist, but unlike our experiments, he doesn't have to set up control groups to compare us against because he already knows our potential. He watches and records every detail of our lives, especially during times of testing, not because He is curious, but because He is filled with love and compassion. These are my thoughts.

Last semester in Child Development I learned about Schema's and how people see the world through a set of ideas that everything filters through. Today, just as every other day I use my brain, I am so grateful that my schema (or filter) is the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Just don't know how I'd survive 5 hours of remedial bio babble tonight without it!!