Look at my effort, not my work

14 out of 15 points. That’s what I received for the homework assignment I submitted this afternoon in calculus. After what was probably about 12 hours and 10 submitted pages of homework (spread over three days at about 4 hours a day), I got 14/15, earning me about a 93% for the assignment. If assignments were graded on effort, I would have a 15/15, but I can understand that in 12 hours of calculus I must have done at least something wrong.

I’m okay with it. We’ve had two assignments graded so far this semester and my point total is 29/30 to date, so I’m feeling good about this whole calculus thing. I was nervous that I would fall on my face because it’s been so long since I took a full semester of calculus, but now I’m pretty confident that, with the Lord’s help—which, I’m convinced, I am receiving an immense portion of—I can do this with an A. Not an A-, an A. My end goal after three years of school is a job, of course, but it is also a higher GPA than what I had with my first bachelor’s. I want to show employers an improvement from my first degree, that I have made progress, and that I am capable of doing amazing things. And since I won’t be taking a full load any semester I am here (except one, I think), I’m pretty certain this is a worthy, reasonable goal. I mean, right now things are going well in all of my classes, calculus included.