by Kindahl Jackson
It is that time of year again when exams, deadlines, and projects seem to engulf every college student. I am one of those college students who open up their planners and wonder where I can fit in time to sleep and eat between studying and class time. It all seems to limit the time I get to pray and to study Christian Science on a daily basis.
I viewed my spiritual progress Christian Science and getting closer to God last semester as something I would pencil in if I had time, but seriously that meeting at five won’t wait! I kind of stopped trying to apply Christian Science everyday with regards to my class work, but did pray when I truly thought I needed it-generally right before an exam or a huge project was due! This of course was a bad idea.
One day I was completely overwhelmed with school and I sat down with my Science and Health and the Christian Science Bible Lesson for that week. I was cramming for a calculus exam the next morning and was very worried about how the test would go.
In the lesson that week titled “Man” there was a line in Science and Health that caught my eye. Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Would any one call it wise and good to create the primitive, and then punish its derivative?” I quit reading as soon as I finished that line. The majority of my exam was over finding the derivatives of equations!
This quote made me think about how man-all men, women, and children-reflects God alone and so his actions must be in line with good. God made man intelligent and capable.
After realizing that all I was doing on my exam was expressing God, the stress disappeared. I felt completely embraced by the understanding of the atonement or at-one-ment between God and man. There is no separation between God and His creation.
Although, I still find myself wanting to pencil in God some days, I now quickly resist that impulse. I know that God can never be side-lined because He is the very Life of man.
A nice bonus? The exam the next morning went very smoothly and I passed the course for the semester!
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Kindahl,
Thanks for sharing your healing of a common issue with college students who practice Christian Science. Before a big test, I often find myself “cramming” my study of Christian Science along with my study of the particular subject. Of course, daily work is our best defense against the suggestions of mortal mind. Since you seem to have gotten away with cramming on this occaision, how do you motivate yourself to study Christian Science daily?
Study of the Lesson Sermon is the first on the list of to do’s when you first awake in the morning. Put God first regardless.
to George. How do you put God first regardless if you’re so overwhelmed? great that you can do it, but not everyone is as disciplined as that. I’d love to know how you got to this point of total dedication. I admire it, but am not there.
Motivating yourself to study Christian Science on a daily basis is really tough especially during school when everybody seems to have crazy schedules! What helps me get through the day is of course reading the daily bible lesson but also right before I go to bed or wake up in the morning I open up the Science and Health and read just a page or two.
Sometimes one line out of the lesson or the Science and Health is all you need. I try to find just one true statement about God or Man and hold to it-which turns out to really help me a lot. One true idea that you can stick to for that day can be pretty helpful even if you didn’t get to read the lesson that morning.
Wow what great words not just for the college student but us adults too! Thanks Kindahl for the gentle reminder to pencil God in….
One way I’ve found to pencil God in is by taking the time I’ve decided on and not letting anything else get in the way. I turn off my cell phone, close the door, ignore the door bell. Then try to spend 30 minutes or so just praying and talking with God. It’s amazing how many things try to interrupt at first - and they’re hard to ignore - they all seem important - but then, after I did this for awhile - those distractions stopped trying to get to me as much. Sometimes I just get in my car and go to a park and sit and pray there. That really helps, too.
I’ve often shared that feeling of being overwhelmed, not having the time, energy, or motivation to finish all of my assignments and do them well in the time i have for them. I’ve found myself saying “oh i don’t have time to open s+h today” or “i’ll read that sentinel later.” But what I’ve started doing is right before I go to bed I read for about 15 minutes from anything CS I have near my bed. I used to have a hard time going to sleep because I was anxious about school, soccer, and other various extracurricular activities. After a few days - even as I was getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night I was restful and at peace because I knew that “God rests in action.” and that there is an infinite amount of energy that is already available, I just have to “let go and let God.” The degree I am enrolled in is pretty technical and involved in engineering so I always struggle with not understanding or knowing enough for tests or homework assignments. There is a very good quote I can’t quite remember but it goes along the lines of - an honest effort towards an honest achievement makes that achievement possible. I’ve always put faith in the fact that if you put an honest amount of work into any project it will come out the way God intended and bless those involved, you just have to “let go and let God”