science as art

A new adventure has captured my attention in the last few months, one that involves an area of learning that is very new to me: science.  After hours and hours of research and trying to convince myself that I had it in me to take on a new challenge, I finally decided that not trying would be the thing I would regret most looking back on my life years from now, so I enrolled as a science in the evening student at University of Maryland and decided to get on the adventure train again.

(Yes, I can now wear a Maryland Terps shirt to one of their sports games and feel legit).

Last night I sat through a three hour chemistry lecture, tonight through a three hour biology lecture.  The program is a post-bacc program, so all of the students in my classes are similar to me in the fact that they already have a degree, yet I can imagine that all of our stories contain very different elements, making it all the more exciting.

For me, as someone who spent the last three years of life learning and discovering the power of story, immersed in artistic communities and participating (or often just listening when the subject was just too far beyond my knowledge base) in the conversations that they engage in about culture and the presentation/communication of philosophies, I wondered how difficult it would be to step into a world that I often view as lacking in artistry.

All I know is that after just a few weeks of independent study of science related topics, and now with taking science courses, wonder is the feeling that I most often encounter.  Learning about the anatomy of the human body, the make up of an atom, DNA, molecules, etc...no wonder so many "artists" often made some of the biggest impacts in the world of science.  It is fascinating!  The handiwork of God is everywhere, down to the smallest detectable cell known to man, and it's hard not to feel the "creative juices" in the brain and heart start to go wild just learning about the systems that exist all around me.

As the semester progresses, I know that hard work will be required on my part to learn and hopefully eventually master the material.  However, there is such a joy in taking on this work because in the labor, there are new levels of beauty and art just waiting to be discovered.  And according to my biology teacher, science is about asking questions, and that is one skill that I know how to use.  I'm excited to see where this adventure takes me, and to see science come alive as something points to a Creator who is so full of love and life and wholeness.