It's sad but true. Some of us are waking up at 5:30 am or earlier to get to morning practice for sports or attend help sessions, then we spend 7-8 hours in a desk, mindlessly copying notes from the board and trying to keep our eyes open, and then we get home from school anywhere from 3-9 pm depending on how long our after school practices and club meetings go. Then what? We sit down for another two hours to do even more school work, because the entire day we just spent on campus obviously wasn't enough. Our parents talk about how they miss seeing us. Coaches get mad if we have to skip because of a big test the next day. If you participate in athletics don't even think about a social life on the weekdays--save it for the weekend. Or, of course, you could technically go hang out with your friends on a Wednesday night, as long as you're okay with not doing so well on your test on Thursday. But your parents wouldn't be, so you stay in. And instead of focusing on your homework you kind of end up sitting thinking about the things you could be doing instead, the things that would better you as a person, introduce you to new people, teach you real life lessons, maybe even give you the chance to spread Jesus's light to someone else. Your endless pile of math worksheets can't do that. It won't, and it never will. Because nowhere in the Ten Commandments does it say, "Thou must fully understand the Pythagorean Theorem." The thing didn't even exist back then. It didn't need to. We as humans are becoming so self absorbed that instead of doing what we came here to do, to spread God and live for Him, we're living for ourselves. We're "educating" ourselves on material things that won't make a difference when we get where we're going, when we should be educating ourselves on life--people, places, relationships, how to work with others, how to love others, and how to love God. We're trying to use numbers and scientific terms to "fix" things that were never broken, and we're trying to put a quantity on something limitless.
You always hear these quotes about how you don't know how much time you have, and how you need to act while you still can because God might need to call you home tomorrow, or even ten minutes from now, as morbid as that probably seems. We don't know what's going to happen. We don't know His plan for us. So, why are we acting like we have all the time in the world, spending hundreds of thousands of hours with our noses stuck in books full of "facts" and "rules" written by humans created no more superior than ourselves, when there's a book called the Bible with the only information we've ever needed to know all right there in front of us? Why are we developing hypotheses about how the world works when it's all right there in Genesis?
This is today's world. I'm not going to be able to come up with some life changing solution in this post, because there isn't one. We're required to go to school. It's near impossible to be employed without a degree these days, anyway. However, when you're studying a subject that means less than nothing to you, or maybe your brain just isn't grasping the concept and you're way low on sleep, just remember that God comes first. Make Him your priority. It doesn't matter how much homework you may have, or how busy you are with practice. You need to take time for Him, for prayer and thoughts and conversation, truly taking a moment to listen to Him, or you're just going to keep getting lost over and over again. You also need to make time for you. I don't care how important your tests are; if you're not getting enough sleep, close the books and turn out the light. Wake up early enough to eat a healthy breakfast. Something like school, something so far from our true purpose, isn't worth wrecking your mind and body over. You'll never be able to focus on God when you're stressed on worldly things. So, while it's important to try your very best, because God gave us talents and potential and it is indeed a sin to not even give reaching that potential a shot, never feel like your best isn't good enough. Because when you're standing at the gates of heaven, your GPA won't matter, but the way you went about it will. It's a fine line that you don't want to cross on either side. Work as hard as you can. Get the highest grades you can. They may not matter in the grand scheme of things, but they are what's in front of you, and there's nothing you can do about it, so be the best student you can be. However, know when to stop. Respect yourself and respect the body God gave you. Your health comes before your homework. Leave yourself time to let your light shine onto others. Help people out when they're having trouble. Smile at someone in the hall. Compliment a girl's outfit even if you may not be caught dead in it. Tell someone they look beautiful, because no matter what they look like in your opinion, they are beautiful. Do all of these things and live like Jesus would.
Don't let anything get in the way of what God has planned for you. Not even the one material thing that's supposed to be "guaranteed to give you a future." Because I can tell you right now God is the one holding your future, not a college admissions board member.
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