“God will still love me, even if I fail this test.”

I’ve said these words often, especially every time a Chemistry test comes my way. It’s reassuring to think that God won’t check my GPA when I’m before Pearly Gates….but what does that mean for my academics?

They don’t matter…?

I can fail every single subject?!

I never have to study for anything?!!

I can drop out of school and pursue holiness without any grades or assessments or standardized tests????

SIGN ME UP.

NOT EXACTLY….

As much as I wish that another Chemistry exam never came my way, that’s just not the way it works. School is something I’m going to have to live with. However, it doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

1 Corinthians 10:31 reminds us, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Look at praying before meals. All you’re doing is eating and drinking. Nothing too significant about that. But, by pausing before your meal and thanking God for the food He has blessed you with, you’re acknowledging Him. By asking Him to use it for your nourishment, you’re using your gift to glorify His creation. A simple task—eating some good ole’ Chick-fil-A, for example—has now become a means for sanctification. You’ve glorified God before you’ve even taken a bite.

So if eating or drinking can glorify God, then I’d have to think there’s something of value in schoolwork.

School, like food, is a gift that can be used to glorify God. About to take a test? Stressed out before finals week? Wondering what the point is to all this work? Well, that’s an opportunity to glorify God. It’s a chance to thank God for the gift of education, a privilege many throughout the world don’t experience. It’s an opportunity to ask Him to use your education for His benefit, to form you into His disciple and to give you courage to speak His word.

Something as simple as writing “JMJ” on the top of your test (meaning “Jesus, Mary, Joseph”) invites God into your daily routine and transforms the mundane into a prayer.

In the words of St. Josemaria Escriva, “an hour of study, for a modern apostle, is an hour of prayer.”

LIVING VOCATIONALLY

Sometimes, I get antsy with my education. It seems to be a hindrance to my path to holiness. How can I serve others if I have to do homework? How can I wake up for Mass if I stayed up all night studying?

I get eager to graduate and move on, to finally “discover my vocation.” But, in those times, what I’m failing to recognize is that we are called to live vocationally right here and now, no matter where we are in life.

My vocation is to be a student right now. It may not seem like much, but there is ample opportunity to glorify God in everything I do as a student. In fact, He’s everywhere I look.

Chemistry (although a dreadful subject, in my opinion) reveals the glory of God. In fact, all science does, for that matter. The intricacies of human life, the precision with which our world was created…it all points to the divine. So many things had to happen just right for life to exist; yet here we are: living, breathing, thinking individuals.

And English? It points to the beauty and imagination God has placed in our hearts, a beauty and imagination that are only minor reflections of His. Music: Well, psh, singing is praying twice. History: That’s His story, you see.

I could go on and on, but the point is: GOD IS EVERYWHERE. We can find Him in our classroom, in our textbooks, and in the people we encounter each day at school.

The more we learn about our world, the more we learn about the One who created it. It’s anything but boring.

BUT WHAT ABOUT SLEEP DEPRIVATION?

I just went on to explain why school is so great, and I’m sure some of you are thinking: “yeah it’s just so great to stay up until 3AM and spend every day stressed out of my mind.”

Let me clarify.

It’s important to take your vocation as a student seriously and to invest time in your studies…but it’s not the most important. Doing well in school should not come at the expense of our sanity. That’s not what God is asking from us.

Rather, living out our vocations as students should mean finding a balance somewhere in the middle: we recognize the blessing of our education. We want to get to know our Lord through what we learn. But we realize that, at the end of our lives, our school performance is just a drop in the bucket.

This realization is liberating. Stress ceases to hold any power when you realize there’s nothing to be stressed about. When confronted with a daunting project or an impossible test, all we can do is study to the best of our ability and pray that God meets us halfway.

After that, if things turn out well…great. All glory to God. And if not…great. We’ve gained a bit of humility.

Failing a test won’t keep us from Christ. So why let the mere fear of failing a test keep us from Christ? That’s what anxiety and stress are: a lack of trust that God’s got you, no matter what happens.

BLESSED NOT STRESSED

Your academics will take you far. The work ethic, the knowledge, and the skills you acquire as you live out your vocation as a student can help you glorify God and the gifts He has blessed you with.

School is significant. Remember that.

But also remember that it’s not of eternal significance. Only one Thing is unchanging. Only one Thing will get you to Heaven. Only one Thing (God) matters in the end.

Rock those finals! Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

(And please pray for my Chemistry exam.)