by Ella Corey

It’s the time of year where I feel pressed to get everything done and to perform perfectly. With midterms and papers due, I so badly want to skip to the end of the semester, where studying is finally done and I can sleep without worrying I haven’t worked hard enough. Although, getting to the end of the semester still isn’t the end, there’s still another semester before summer break, and six (hopefully) more semesters after that. Sometimes I’m practically counting down the days.

It’s hard to not get caught up in this mentality. “Goals” of the weekend or graduation turn into wanting to rush through the phase of life we’re in right now. We rush through high school to get into college, quickly finish college to get to grad school, blow through grad school to get a job, continue with your job only to move further up and get that promotion, finally, to provide for a family and have a good retirement.

With constant deadlines and busy schedules, we forget to be thankful for time, because we don’t feel like we have any. You’d think that instant-speed technology would grant us with more time, but in reality it’s caused us to be impatient, and cram our iPhone calendars. We hate waiting in line, drive fast on the freeway, and even instantly download books and movies because we don’t want to go to the store to get one. In The Overworked American, best-selling author Juliet Schor’s research shows that “millions of Americans are beginning to live a different kind of life, where they are trading money for time. I believe that this is one of the most important trends going on in America.”

Every so often I need to slow down and remind myself to be thankful for the phase of life God has placed me in at this very moment. Author Pilar Gerasimo of Experience Life magazine says, “We spend the vast majority of our mental, emotional and spiritual energy focusing either on the past (our wounds, our losses, our history, our failures) or on the future (our plans, our goals, our obligations, our dreams). As a result, we have almost no energy to focus on the present…” This doesn’t mean don’t plan for the future, but make sure to take time to be grateful for where you are right now.

Proverbs 19:2There are many verses on haste; the Bible makes it pretty clear that we are not to rush through life, and we are to be thankful for every moment He has given us. Proverbs 19:2 says “It is not good for a person to be without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps errs.”  Additionally, Paul says in Ephesians to “redeem the time, because the days are evil. Time is a gift from God that we are to spend wisely. If we are wasting it, we are not properly thanking him for this gift.

My encouragement for you is to enjoy where you are right now. Don’t treat every day as a stepping-stone to get to the next, but appreciate the time and opportunities you have right now. Now, I catch myself every time I complain about studying, homework, or how many courses I still have to take to graduate. I am so incredibly blessed to be a student, and this is time I am never going to get back. I want to look back on this phase of my life and see a time where I worshiped God by enjoying the time and opportunities he has given me, not regret rushing through it.