Combining Senior Seminar and Sabbath

Hello Readers! Hope your week is going well, I know mine is off to a crazy start!

School is going well. I’m busy, involved, and loving every second of this intense semester, but one of the things I didn’t expect to love so much is the classwork (crazy, I know, since the sole reason I’m here at Hope is to do be educated.) One of the classes I’m in this semester that I’ve found I love is my Senior Seminar. The name of the class I’m in is The Future of Being Human, and it is all about the advancement of technology and humans place in this advancing world of data. It’s really interesting and has made me think about some more in-depth issues that are going on in the world.

The main takeaway I’ve gotten from this class so far is that while technology is helpful in so many ways, it also makes humanity disconnected to what is happening around us and alters the relationships we have with people. This topic fascinates me, and I love to challenge myself in it as often as I can.

During this past summer, I was able to read a book by John Mark Comer titled Garden City. It is about figuring out what our purpose is on this earth and how we can tie that purpose into our day-to-day lives (really good book, here’s the link). There is a chapter in this book that struck me right to the core. It was about trying to implement a Sabbath day into our weeks. For John Mark, this Sabbath day includes him and his family turning off their electronic devices and doing nothing but resting and worshiping the Lord. In other words, they don’t work at all on this Sabbath day and refocus their lives for the week on what is important. Can you imagine the bliss of not checking emails and having the freedom to be spontaneous?

This is my dream of what every Sabbath for me would look like - diving into piles and piles of books and not coming out until the day is done!
This is my dream of what every Sabbath for me would look like – diving into piles and piles of books and not coming out until the day is done!

I could. And I wanted to implement this Sabbath day into my week – so I did. It wasn’t (and isn’t) easy, especially for a college student, but I decided Mondays would be my Sabbath. No phone, no laptop, and piggybacking on those items, the ability to be bored – to be creative. I hadn’t been those things in the longest time, and it is good to be back. I’m hoping that through my Sabbath, I can reconnect with friends without the barrier of a screen and interact with people how they are meant to be interacted with. So far, so good. It’s my favorite day of the week.

The combination of making Sabbath a reality and the technological ideas I’m talking about in my Senior Seminar is such a unique perspective of a topic I never thought I’d care so much about. Even though the semester isn’t even halfway over, I know the topic of this class, combined with Sabbath will make for a semester full of growth and creativity for me. I’ll keep you updated on how it’s going!

Thanks for the read, friends! Enjoy the rest of this week. Until next time!

Posted inAcademics, Faith
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Published by Mikaila Bisson

Hi there! I'm a Hope Senior from Sterling Heights, Michigan (about 45 minutes North of Detroit). I'm an English major with a Creative Writing emphasis (fitting), and have a Business minor. I'm super active in Hope life. I am a Student Ambassador, the Senior Treasurer on the Executive Board of Nykerk, and was involved in Orientation as an AD. I also work on campus at the Career Development Center as a Career Advisor, and at Hope's Physical Plant. I love playing any kind of sport (soccer's my favorite!), have a weakness for shoes, eat dessert twice a day, read like its my job, am currently watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix, and have a passion for Golden Retrievers. Contact me at mikaila.bisson@hope.edu because I'd love to hear from any and everyone. Also feel free to follow my super trendy Instagram account at @miktroubleee or my equally as trendy, even more Hope-filled Twitter account at @hopemikaila17 .

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