I've already told you about never thinking God cared about spiders (if you've forgotten that lovely *sarcasm* story, you can read about it here). And I told you about my realization that God cares about exercise.
But there's something else. Something that, around this time of year, I think we all need to be reminded of.
God cares about school.
Some of us need to be reminded that we are to reflect the glory of God in every part of our life.
"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." ~Ecclesiastes 9:10a
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." ~Colossians 3:23
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." ~1 Corinthians 10:31
We have been given an incredible opportunity -- an opportunity to learn about this world God has created and the story He is penning within it. For whatever reason, part of that story has you placed in a classroom for several hours out of the day. This is not merely some haphazard freak of nature. This is God's sacred intent for you for this time in your life. So give it back to Him! Let everything you do be done until Him. Ask for His patience, His wisdom, His clarity, and His vision of why you are here and why you are doing what you are doing. For whatever reason, He wants you to be learning what you are learning -- strive to find out why. Strive to see Him in every aspect of your studies. Ask Him to give you a heart of persistence and diligence. Ask Him for a heart of worship, even in this seemingly unrelated area. He is Lord of all of your life!
And some of us...some of us need to remember that this life is not about school.
Now before you go rolling your eyes and waving that off as a problem unique to Kendall, let me tell you how my school idolatry began.
It started with a nightmare. It wasn't a real nightmare, it was more like a daymare... One of those tricks your mind plays on you, one of those scenarios that will probably never come true that are somehow conjured up in your head.
It went something like this.
“Kendall, you cannot progress to nursing courses.”
I stared at my academic advisor in disbelief as she explained that I had failed to pass one of the critical courses for progression to nursing. In addition to this, I had lost my scholarship, since my GPA had dropped below its requirement.
I knew what this meant. I would have to go home. I would not be going back to college the next semester. I would not be becoming a nurse. I had failed.
I fought back the tears and tried to listen as my advisor explained that I could retake the course or switch majors, but I shook my head. Without the scholarship, there was no possible way I could continue. After two years of college, I was going home. I didn’t know what I would do. All the plans, all the dreams I’d ever had were crushed. No little "RN" by my name. I had not achieved my calling. I was useless.
Obviously this hasn't happened. Actually, when I first wrote down this "daymare," I hadn't even graduated from high school yet. But it terrified me. And from that point on, I threw myself into studying, and into a much less healthy and much more dangerous occupation -- worrying. What ifs played through my head before every test for the first two months of college. What if I failed a class? What if I couldn't be a nurse? I had been so sure of my calling, but I began to doubt it -- and I had absolutely no grounds to. I began to make plans for failure -- a plan B -- while I carried the full weight of the success or failure of plan A on my shoulders.
And then I read the following quote.
"God never issued instructions which He was not prepared to enable us to obey." ~Elisabeth Elliot
Guess what, Kendall, God began to whisper to my heart. I don't have a plan B. I never have a plan B. Do you think I would call you to do something, and then not provide a way for you to do it? Even if your life looks completely different from what you've imagined -- that's My plan A.
Jesus isn't going to give me a second-best life. And He isn't going to give you a second-best life.
So to all of my sweet friends slaving over college applications...do your best. Work at it with all your heart. But work at it as unto Christ. Wherever He wants you, He will make a way -- even if it looks impossible. He cares more about this than even you do.
To all my buddies studying for end-of-semester tests, writing long papers and staying up crying tears of stress that I understand only too well: Keep working hard, but never let the calling of school overshadow the importance of the One who called you. And never imagine that this is not a part of your life that Jesus wants under His lordship. When it composes the majority of your day, how could He not want it centered around Him and His will?
You are a full-time student. This is your calling for today. Therefore, do it to the best of your ability, by the grace of God, all for His glory.
