Where's some manna when you need it?

I am struggling with my Clinical Pastoral Education essays. How many times have applications asked you to summarize your life in 500 words or less? Can a person be captured in such a miniscule piece of writing? What do you put in or keep out?

And I need to finish this before I go home for Christmas break. I need to write these essays along with all the assignments for my other classes. At times the weight of all this writing collapses around my hands and stymies my ability to think or type.

I ask myself, "How many more times will this happen in my life? How many times will I be shuffled off to another institution to have my square edges routered off for the round hole?"

At times like these I can imagine why the Israelites complained so much to God. They were stuck wandering around in the middle of the desert. They lived out of tents. They ate bread off the ground everyday. It sounds rather monotonous.

But these are the paper deserts through which we must cross in order to reach the Promised Land of internship, college, or career. Between here and there, the desert stretches out, but the River Jordan is approaching and soon we'll be in the milk and honey of another work site. Press on! Dear traveler, press on! Your rest is coming.