STRESSED OUT

So, I have to write a 7 page paper, due tomorrow for native american history. I have been thinking about it and doing all the readings and stuff. But I didn't start writing till yesterday. And now, I'm freaked out, because my grade in this class is so important to me, not just to prove to myself that I can do it, but because my closest Rutgers friend is a history major. I guess I kind of feel like I need to measure up. Thats not really an accurate way of describing it, but that was what came to mind, so I typed it. I have now spent most of today typing, deleting, and typing it again. And deleting again. So yeah, I'm coming up with all these ideas, but I'm not actually acheiving any length. The paper is just staying at its lame, 2-page length. I prayed, "God, how am I EVER going to finish this? I don't think I can do it." I thought, sure why not, I've done practically nothing all day, I may as well stop this and go read my Bible. So I opened to the psalms, the most-read section of my Bible, and started skimming a bit, skipping chapters that I knew from previous readings did not apply to this current life-or-death dilemma that I'm getting all worked up over. When I turned to the 46th, I read this:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

I thought, oh yeah, some of the other chapters that I passed mentioned events like that too. The major disasters, earthquakes, floods, famine, plague, enemies on all sides, the valley of the shadow of death, being hunted by foes and wild animals. And then it dawned on me. My history paper is not earth-shattering. The mountains are not going to fall into the heart of the sea because I got a low grade on this paper... though it will be disappointing. But I'm making a big wild creature out of it, when its really not. Like that song about paper tigers following me. So, now that I have that perspective on the paper, I'm going to go give it another try.