beauty in the tedious

I have spent a ridiculous amount of time the last 3 weeks learning every bump on this brain (you think it's all random, but no, they all have names!) and every function of every one of those bumps. Every nuclei in the brainstem and the pathways of the cranial nerves through those nuclei and back up to the brain and down to control movement and sensation. And I was frustrated and bored beyond belief. I couldn't learn it and I couldn't see the big picture and I was pretty much just angry at the brain. Come on, WHY does it have to be so complicated?

Yesterday, however, I was laying in bed trying to will myself to get up so I could commence my marathon study day. As I laid there going in and out of consciousness between snoozed alarms, it hit me. I remembered why I loved medical school, and undergrad and all my crazy science classes. Somehow this spring I forgot how lucky I am. I get to spend every day for the rest of my life studying and appreciating the intricacies of God's creation.

That "blob" of gray matter is a sea of intricate pathways of creation that allow me to be me and you to be you. A non-descript and frustratingly detailed system is beautiful. And all those stupid nuclei that I've been killing myself to remember, are the reason that I am breathing and moving and thinking and relating.

I've noticed this trend in Christianity to make everything ambiguous in the name of spirituality (speaking of which, did you know that the nuclei that is responsible for speech and swallowing is your Nucleus Ambiguus?). We like big pictures and general concepts and ideals and not to get into the nitty gritty details. But when I think about how God created, he didn't create in ambiguous concepts--the reason we're alive is because of his precision and order. How should this impact how we seek God and how we study his word?

This never ceases to amaze me, and thankfully serves and a reminder of why I'm in the field I'm in and keeps me from entering too far into the cynicism that my hermit-lifestyle starts to produce.