College - Jr. Year - Week 2

This backpack was my pride and joy for many many years.

This is a look around.

A week of college classes has already finished. I've had syllabus shock for the first time ever. This is the least prepared I've ever been for a semester.

I've already had a birthday. Goodbye, teenage years.

My family is coming to visit this weekend, and I can't wait to see all nine of their smiling faces. But that means, I need to get all my homework done early.

I'm really looking forward to serving people this year, and I'm excited about the potential ways that I will be able to invest in others.

But, here's my concern: that I will become stagnant.

School comes fairly easy to me, and frankly, I love it. For the most part, I enjoy homework and the academic world. But, it's also easy for me to just put my head down and get the work done without ever growing and treasuring what I'm blessed with to learn. I want to grow. I want to look past the assigned reading and essays. I want to become more like Christ while I am a student.

Every assignment that I complete, every time I sit down in class, every time I pass a professor on my way to print a paper, every time I pass a student: these are moments I can show Christ.

Is my attitude right? Am I working with integrity, with respect? Am I taking responsibility for my own work, including the crappy work? Am I working hard to avoid crappy work? Do I demonstrate a sort of joy that comes from truly believing that being able to study at college is grace? God was never obligated to let me learn the things I love and grow in academic knowledge, but He brought me here--and that's worth realizing.

//Alyson Jennie