A Part of Something Special

I'm involved with two other faculty members in an ongoing undergraduate project funded by the EPA to install a greywater reclamation system on an apartment building on campus, with the goal of raising student awareness of conservation issues. We received the funding over the summer, so this semester is the beginnings of the project implementation. The project contains 8 hefty components that require a wide range of skills... and it needs to be completed by undergraduate students... and we needed to recruit them!

We were very nervous as we began this semester: What if we didn't have enough students sign on to the project? What if they didn't possess the necessary skills? What if the project came crashing down in mud and hurricanes? We spent the week before the semester began hyping up project as best we could; we scheduled a project informational meeting for the first Wednesday of the semester and crossed our fingers...

We were astounded when 12 students from a variety of majors showed up to the meeting, each of them bringing an overflow of excitement & dedication and a plethora of skills. We explained to them that the project would be difficult, and would require a lot of work... and the more they heard, the more excited they became.

Their excitement was refreshing, and encouraging. It reminded me that, deep down inside, every human wants to be a part of something special. Even if it requires drudgery or significant challenge, we want to leave a unique mark on the world. We want to give up our time and energy to be part of something bigger and more important than ourselves, to feel a sense of completeness by creating something new and beautiful.

And I think that's part of how we bear the image of God. God's glory is so exciting that, in an emotional sense, He "couldn't keep it to Himself," but created the universe to showcase His glory in unique and wonderful ways. And He gave us that same creative drive that seeks to make something new and special, something helpful and wonderful, something ultimately glorious.