Laura's Questions

We have a summer fellowship with students from all the various professional and graduate schools. At these gatherings, we have one student share about why they have chosen the program of study they are in, what they have learned about God's work in their life in the process, and how is it challenging them.

This past Friday, Laura Hoover*, a PhD candidate in Chemical and Environmental Engineering shared. It was a very thoughtful and powerful time as she raised some critical issues, like:

Where do we find our identity?

How do we deal (can we deal?) with failure?

What does it mean to operate in a context that requires constant self-promotion?

How do we express our faith in an academic context where many people consider it irrational and irrelevant?

It stimulated a lot of discussion and prayer. Another student shared that the message he gets from his department is that his research is all that matters. The alternatives presented to him are to work 24/7 on the research or be a failure. There is no time to “waste” on developing a relationship with God … or with anyone. Marriage and family are off the table; there is just no time for those things. If your research is not always your #1 priority, someone else somewhere else is going to beat you to it.

Yesterday, I visited with a Yale medical school faculty who told me that just recently (she is in her 40’s) she is coming to realize that being “the best” is not actually all that important. Her realization came when she received the honor of being asked to present her research at a major conference. Her colleagues were congratulatory, but she noted that her internal response was pretty neutral. A short while later she received a note from her high school daughter’s teacher who commented on how much the teacher appreciated her daughter. Her internal response to that note was joy. That’s when she began to realize afresh that it is the relationships in her life that most matter, and that’s where she wants to place priority. She’s still a busy doctor; she’s still teaching, and she’s still doing research, but she’s had an internal re-orientation that plays out in her way of life.

Also related to this theme, a couple weeks ago a student sent me a link to a sermon by Tim Keller, pastor of the Redeemer Church in NYC*. The theme is the Sabbath, and in it there is one line which, while it is not a major point in the sermon, would be heard as hugely challenging – maybe outrageous - in the Yale context. He says something like, “If you want to follow Christ, you may not be able to be at the top of your career.”

Is it that stark?

How do we deal with the desire to do our best and contribute to our field, yet not let that be something that becomes self-destructive?

How do we keep the perspective that the goal in our work to bless the world, not to advance our reputation (or that of our advisor!)?

One thing I know for sure, it is these questions, as well as the others Laura raised, that are part of the “why” behind having Christian fellowships in the grad and professional schools!

* Thanks to Laura for permission to share this story. Info about her work is at: http://www.yale.edu/env/elimelech/People_Page/laura_hoover_page/laura_hoover.html

*The sermon is at http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/work-and-rest