Chapter 1:

Monday I got a new yellow backpack.  All at once going to class became exciting because I got to line my pencils in the pockets and slip my computer into the built-in case.  Though I’m sure no one noticed my new toy, I felt the newness close to my back all afternoon and I couldn’t help but skip a little.

This backpack, I immediately learned, is a few inches wider than my other.  I knocked it on every doorframe that first day, and people acted as if I should be embarrassed.  I didn’t mind though, because I had a new yellow backpack.  It’s probably the first one since kindergarten.  A spark was lit for the mundane as the child within me perked up.

On Tuesday I spilt a cup of coffee in the side pocket (I really need to work on biking with coffee).  By day Wednesday and Thursday the newness became overshadowed by what was held inside—textbooks, notes, homework, and essentially a call to study.  Even yellow cannot make that list sunny.

Today I’m going to walk as if I have something better than a coffee-free, brand-new yellow backpack.  I’m walking in light of knowing Jesus, and that adds more than a skip to my step.  It adds joy to being alive, hope for a future, a love for the day and maybe even a jump to top it off.

Friday.