As a graduate student pursuing a degree in theology twelve years ago, I took a course called Systematic Theology — by far my toughest class. It was taught by a brilliant professor who was dying of bone marrow cancer. No one knew she was dying. She kept her diagnosis to herself and, as best as she could, covering up her chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

One afternoon she gave us this assignment: If you had only one day left of your life, how would you live it? What would you change about your life now?”

“I would drop this course,” I immediately thought to myself.

The responses were fascinating. Some people would totally rearrange their lives. A woman who worked in the admissions department said she would quit her job and start writing. Others wouldn’t adjust a thing. I was somewhere in the middle: I felt like I was generally going in the right direction, but I could certainly do without researching the Holy Trinity, because it was a mystery after all.

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