Burden turned blessing

It's the first day of the new year and all I can think about is how soon school will start once again. Winter break has been going by so fast and I'm not ready to exchange rest, comfort, and any other nouns that can paint a peaceful ambiance for unrelenting stress that will plausible accompany spring semester. It's amazingly scary how much I dread school – actually, it's pretty pathetic. To be honest, some topics are interesting but I'm not the biggest fan of writing papers, taking exams, and basically.. studying. But those are the essential tasks expected of students! By possessing an acrimonious attitude towards all three and having it consequently influence my mood, speech, and demeanor, I'm obviously not the most joyful student.

But as Christians, we're called to always be joyful, to work hard, and to be God's image-bearers.. wherever He places us. Needless to say, it's kind of hard to worship and witness when I'm not joyful about the place(school) or the task(being a student). And if my grades and academic performance worry me when I'm looking for internships this semester, am I trusting in my abilities instead of in God's faithful promise to a hard worker (ie. Prov14:23)? Because if I really believe the latter, those papers, exams, and lackluster studying hours shouldn't stress me out so much if I give it my best and allow God to take control and do the rest.

Since God rewards hard work, how joyful and purposeful is it to work heartily unto Him and not onto ourselves or anyone else. Whatever earthly recognition we may obtain from our deeds cannot compare to God's reward: being deemed good and faithful servants in the academic realm. But haha.. it's so much easier to preach it than to personalize it. So I guess that's one thing I'll try to look forward to this new year and this upcoming semester – to let my role as a student validate and vindicate my role as a Christian. Essentially, being a student should be a blessing, not a burden.