MCAT prep

So What?
My so what for this week is simple.  I am sorry to anyone who would ever read this blog to glean any type of advice but this week I am going to focus on a specific thing in my life.  I will try to apply it generally though.

This weekend I took a practice MCAT test.  My score was surprisingly good.  It was not perfect.  I have room to improve but I am not doing too bad.  It is now time for me to set goals on how to improve.

Now What?
I need to keep studying material.  The test helped me realize that there is some stuff that I do not know.  I need to master my understandings of specific things such as acid/base chemistry and physiology.

I need to take a lot of practice tests.  The biggest thing the MCAT tests is your ability to problem solve and apply the knowledge that you have.  In addition to gaining the knowledge I will need to need to practice using it with the specific types of problems the MCAT will test on.

I need to maintain confidence.  In an attempt to include a small amount of life advice in this post I will say this.  Have confidence in yourself!  This practice test gave me confidence.  Yes, I made mistakes and was far from the best or even exceptional, but I am confident in my ability.  Think highly of yourself, God does.  He sees your potential and value.  If you sin you should realize your sin was wrong.  It is possible that you will feel sad and have a broken heart over your sin, but do not let your sin become who you are.  When we being to title ourselves by our sins it becomes easier to fall farther into the trap of Satan...

Wow, that got a little off track.  Anyway, those are the steps I will take in preparing for the MCAT.

 

Mid-semester crisis

My so what this week came in the form of what I call a mid-semester crisis.  After a first wave of exams is completed I have found that I have not done quite as well on some of them as I had hoped that I would.  It is disappointing and I find it very easy to get discouraged and think that I am not cut out for school.  After spending a little while feeling that way I knew I had to decide to act.  In moments like these the decision we make can be all the difference.  I can decide to give up and stop trying, or I can decide to evaluate my methods and make the necessary changes so that I can do better in the future.

Now what? I will take the latter of the two decisions.  I am going to begin to evaluate how I am doing things and make changes.  I am going to decide to not worry about the past, as I can't change it any way.  I am going to decide to have faith in God, knowing that he will provide and all will be well.    

The worth of a soul

My so what for this week:

    10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

    11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.

     12 And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.

     13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!

    14 Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.

    15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

    16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

   (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10-16)

What are these verses of scripture saying.  I am going to summarize it by saying that the worth of a soul is equal to the infinite atonement.  The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, with all the incomprehensible pain and anguish that that entails, was the price that he was willing to pay to save a soul.  Even one single soul was worth what he did.

Now what? Now I need to do a couple things.  First of all, I need to spend my life gaining a better understanding of the atonement of Christ because as I do I will understand better what I am worth and what each and every person on this earth is worth.  Second, I must start treating people according to their value.  You could say this is a follow up to my previous post about treating people as people and not objects.  This perspective will help me achieve that previous goal.   

Unbearable blessings

One of the greatest things about going to BYU, a private school run by the LDS church, is that nearly all the professors take the time to include religious teachings and moral applications to their subject material.  It does not matter what class you are taking, they put some sort of plug in for values or doctrine.  For example, in my biochemistry class my professor likes to take time at the end of every class to tell some sort of anecdotal story at the end of every class period.  The other day he told us about a realization his wife had one time.  He didn't really share what triggered this thought but it made me think and gave me a desire to change.  So this is my "so what."  He said that one day his wife came to the realization that we seem to complain about our blessings a lot.  We have a car and all we do is complain about it breaking down, or having bad gas mileage, or being to small, etc.  When we take the time to think I believe we can all think of some sort of blessing that we have in life that we not only take for granted that we complain about.  I know I have some, and probably many more that I don't even realize.  What a shame.  The Lord blesses us and we complain.  I guess it could be similar to the Israelites complaining about the manna from heaven.  Isn't it just so unbearable to have all these blessings?

"Now what?"  The now what is simple to say, difficult to do.  It comes in two parts.  First of all, take time each day to be aware of the blessings I have been given.  Second, be on the look out whenever I begin to complain.  Ask myself, "Am I complaining about a blessing here?"  If I am then I need to reevaluate my attitude.  I need to start being grateful for what I have rather than resentful.  So, the next time I feel like complaining because my food don't taste quite right I will instead be grateful that I have food.