Well, it is once again the beginning of the fall semester. If you are like me, and your life revolves around the school year, this is a big deal. I always get excited at the start of the school year. There’s newness in the air. But, of course, the new semester also entails lots of late nights typing away at my computer, reading textbooks, and angsting over everything I have due.
This means that I constantly need to stay “plugged in” with what’s going on around me. I need to keep up with my studies, and have hopefully some semblance of a personal life which means staying in touch with my friends and family. But the most important person to stay plugged in with is God.
Think about it this way. All the other stuff on my plate is important, and things that I want to accomplish during this semester. But, if I do everything else while neglecting to grow my relationship with God, it is like plugging a bunch of things into a power strip, and then not plugging in the power strip itself. If you make time for God, everything else will fall into place.
One time when I was teaching swimming at summer camp, I was trying to teach a young camper how to swim. He was refusing to let go of the edge of the pool, just inching his way around. I told him that what he was doing was, in fact, not swimming. He told me that staying on the edge felt safer.
After a lot of persistence, I finally convinced the cub camper to venture away from the edge, with the promise that I would be right there beside him the whole time. He told me, “I’m still scared, but having a lifeguard right beside me makes me brave.”
Trying to venture away from the edge, especially when we are starting something new in uncharted waters, can be terrifying. But, if we invite God to be by our side, everything else will seem a little less intimidating.
Stephanie Wilczynski has been involved with Enspire Productions since 2009. She is pursuing a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Andrews University.
*I got the idea for this blog from one of my students.