Bacteria. I’ve been on a mission to isolate bacteria for the past month and a half. Biology 265 is chock full of learning how to stain, isolate, streak, and run tests, all to prepare you for the big final….2 tubes, 2 different organisms in each tube, isolate the 4 bacterium, (if all four of them will even grow) get pure cultures, find their species, genus, properties, and you get ….175 points!! Don’t find them…and you have to repeat the class!!! Stellar ultimatum.
I’d be lying if didn’t tell you that Microbiology is my favorite class. Really, what could be more fun? Playing with dye, potential pathogenic bacteria, throat swabs, phone swabs, blood cultures, putting them on plates and watching them grow…. it really is my favorite class. And nothing is more satisfying than coming up with the results, oh I found great joy in that.
But I’d also be lying if I didn’t tell you that my Prof. and I don’t see eye to eye. He’s biased about my age, often remarking to me that I’m too young to take these things seriously, telling me I smile too much, telling me I am always happy and it’s unnatural, marking me down for the same thing that my lab partner got 100% on. Frustrating, but it allowed me to grow in patience and love.
And now the semester is drawing to a close; made ever so more obvious by the words of my Prof. “Student Jo, one of these bacteria is wrong; you need to start over from the beginning.” It took all of my strength to make it home, before I curled up on my bed and cried out to God, not in anger, but in deep pain, I just sat there crying out Ps. 25: 16-17. “God, I’m just trying to do what I feel you want from me, I’m trying to do my best, I just can’t get pure cultures, the bacteria won’t work with me, I’ve been working for over a month and I only have a week left Lord, A WEEK, ahhh Lord, I just don’t know what to do and I don’t want to repeat and Lord, I’ve been calling you for a while…Lord, I don’t know what to do.”
And then I felt it
The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with his love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.
Zeph 3:17
Not going to lie, I’m still a bit worried, still apprehensive and still nervous, but now? Now I’m ok with that..whether or not it means taking the class over, or if I do find the bacteria. I’m fine with either result. Cause in the end…it’ll all be good. For sure.
