College. It’s the designated time period in our lives dedicated to parties, alcohol, freedom and of course, education. It’s the time period in life when you’re expected to meet your lifelong best friends, your future husband and your forever family. It’s this time period with no limitations. For once, you have complete freedom, and you make your own decisions. It’s a life trial. We’re “on our own” for the first time. Well, as on your own you can be while still calling your mom everyday. College is for experiences, memories and accomplishments.
We spend much of high school wishing we were in college, yet we take a lot for granted. High school. A time period where all your friends were within 15 minutes of you. A time period for crazy face paint at football games, school dances, and classes you don’t get to choose. Many people were dying to get out, but as the time got closer, and the goodbyes got harder, it became bittersweet.
The hardest part about leaving for college was all the things you had to leave behind. Your best friend you sat next to in third grade is going to be eight hours away. The majority of your family will be six hours away. The beloved family dog won’t be waiting for you when you get home from school anymore. Going to college is exciting and fun, but you end up leaving a lot behind without realizing it. You spend your summer packing up your life. You try and fit every shirt you might wear into a suitcase. You’re forced to pick and choose between the collection of shoes you’ve acquired over the past few years, and you realize your mom won’t fit into your bag, so no more home cooked family dinners.
You’re forced to leave behind a lot when going to college. Friends, family, clothes, but what we don’t have to leave behind is probably the most important thing we end up needing. Jesus. When going to college, many Christians fail to bring their faith with them. You get wrapped up in the drama, fun, and freedom. No one is perfect and it happens to everyone, but we need to strive to not forget about Him.
Jesus is not a shirt you can throw in the back of your closet. He’s not that friend you only call when no one else will go get food with you. He is “your person.” As college students, we are busy people. We try and get good grades, have a social life and get involved, all while balancing the stress and anxiety that comes with it. We get wrapped up in ourselves, and forget the relationship we are so longing for.
We forget that God’s got it. We try and fast forward to tomorrow, yet Jesus wants us living for today. We try and be like our new best friends, yet Jesus wants us to be like him. We forget that we are his hands and feet in a college town bigger than ourselves. We forget that the life we are living is the life He has planned for us. Every 8 a.m., breakdown and weather explosion; God has overseen it. He is bigger than any conflict, any hard test or any breakup. The God that has made us knows how our weekends will go. He knows who will be our best friends when we graduate, and he knows the person we will marry. We go to college with all these worries and expectations, but it’s already been figured out.
College is a time period designated to be some of the best years of our lives. We just have to remember, the one person we didn’t have to leave at home, is the one person that is never going to leave us. His presence is everywhere, surrounding you. In every smile and tear, in every late night at the library, in the dreaded residence halls, and in that lecture that seems to never end, He is there. He won’t be left behind.
