Well it seems that it’s that time of the year again: Midterms

*dundundun*

I know a lot of us had a hard week this past week, and as for me, it was both terrible and wonderful at the same time. I’ll start with the wonderful, since it’s kind of the reason for the terrible. As mentioned in the blog previous, last weekend I got to go to a beautiful wedding.

I was really excited because a priest friend was performing the wedding. He was my priest growing up and he left my church at the same time that I graduated high school, so I hadn’t seen him for years. At the reception we got to talk for hours and hours about everything. It was awesome and I felt really renewed from the experience. It was cool talking to him about my life because it showed me how much I’ve changed in these past two years.

Another wonderful thing that I got to experience was going to see one of my favorite bands ever ever, Ben Folds Five, on Monday night. It was soooo awesome! It was especially cool because they had broken up years ago, but they reunited to do one final tour, so I never expected to be able to see them in concert. I was so close to the stage, I was practically singing into the microphone. One of the best concerts EVER!

This is when the terrible things started to happen, but the first one was totally my fault. What I didn’t mention earlier is that the BFF concert was on Monday night and that I had a marketing test Tuesday morning. Even though I knew it was a bad decision, I still went.

Needless to say, I didn’t do too hot on that test. I also had my usual homework and quizzes for my Chinese class (I totally forgot about an assignment for that class, whoops…), internship stuff and meetings throughout the rest of the week, as usual.

And to top it all off, on Friday I had an test in my advertising media planning foundations class, which I’d heard is the most difficult test within the advertising major (it actually wasn’t that bad), so I stayed up all night studying for that. It was an exhausting week to say the least.

Where has God put me in my life right now?

Anyways, back to the point of this blog. I’m not searching for sympathy or anything, but this has definitely been the most difficult semester of my entire life, and it’ll probably be the hardest semester in my college career (here’s to hoping, anyways).

I mean, I’m doing my CRM media internship, I’m a leader in my ministry, I’m staffing a retreat at my church for about 70 other college students, I’m an officer in the UT Women’s Chorus, I’m taking 14 hours of all upper-division classes, and on top of all that, I’m still emotionally and spiritually recovering from an event earlier this semester (a blog for another day).

What I’m trying to say is that school has definitely not been my top priority. Super Asian fail, I know. I have definitely been slacking majorly, but I try and convince myself that it’s okay because a lot of the work I’m doing is for God (well, except for the concert part, that was just bad decision-making skills).

Of course, that was before I got my grades back from my first round of midterms/research papers/etc. Let’s just say that my 3.5 GPA is about to be no more. I guess that was God’s way of giving me a little punch in the stomach telling me to step it up school-wise. It makes sense though; it’s the whole reason that I’m here in the first place. It’s the task God has set before me first and foremost, and I’ve totally disregarded it.

Glorifying God in everything we do

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31

(Okay, so as you can see, I’m kind of been obsessed with 1 Corinthians lately, hope you don’t mind.)

I know a lot of the time I tend to separate tasks into two different categories: “Things that glorify God” and “Other”. Tasks that would fall into the “Things that glorify God” category would be writing these blogs, going to daily Mass, and praise and worship. Tasks that would fall into the “Other” category would be studying, going to class, and doing laundry.

But it isn’t really like this. In fact, everything we do should have the purpose of glorifying God; not just going to church or serving your ministry. Lift up everything that you do to God, whether it be washing the dishes for your roommates, studying instead of getting on Facebook, or not eating that last slice of cake. All of these things show God’s light in you, whether it be self-control, kindness, or responsibility.

As college students, we are called to do as well as possible in school. When you are in a hardcore study session (this doesn’t mean having your book open while you watch TV, btw) lift up your sacrifice to Jesus, it’s the least we can do considering He sacrificed everything for us.

I’m totally guilty of this, but don’t expect God to send down the Holy Spirit to fill you up with all the right answers right before a test just because you chose to follow Him. God doesn’t owe us anything, and it’s only in His mercy that we are given any sort of blessings. We can’t expect Him to do anything for us. We owe Him everything, so we should give it our all in everything that we do.

Be the best in what God calls you to be, which currently for many of us is to be A+ students. Let non-believers see how God works in you and let them follow you to the Cross. As St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the Gospel always, if necessary use words”.

So let’s just all say a little prayer for all college students today, that we all survive this next week and this semester. Happy studying, everyone!

Laurelin Ontai is a media intern for Campus Renewal Ministries. She is currently a junior at the University of Texas at Austin and active in her ministry at the University Catholic Center. If you have any questions or comments, please contact her at laurelinontai@gmail.com