With the end of the semester approaching, it becomes difficult to find the motivation to complete all of those STRENUOUS tasks that all of the professors happened to schedule on the same day. How can we, as the busy college students we are, accomplish these never-ending assignments with professionalism and diligence?

This answer may look a little different for all of you: Procrastinating until the night it’s due, completing a paper during chapel, or maybe scheduling out your time accordingly. Either way, there is one answer we can all agree on: finding strength and perseverance through Christ.

No matter how full your schedule may be, or how the eight hours of sleep you planned to get were not realistic, our trust in Christ enables us to put all of our anxieties and strains upon Him. When we trust in Christ’s plan for our lives, it allows us to find that motivation that we have been desperately seeking.

Of course, this is not easy. That’s why God gives us the easiest form of communication: PRAYER! Prayer is one of the simplest ways we can converse with God, whether it is through praise or request.

By building our relationships with Christ through fitting time into our “crazy” schedules to sit down and take a break from the chaos to talk to God, our negative outlook will eventually transform into positivity.

Since I am a student like all of you, here are three simple steps you can take to make your day brighter and more productive:

1. Find joy in the simplest things: When we take a few moments to pause and reflect on the good rather than the bad, this can change our overall perspective of the day. This can range from acknowledging someone’s kind gesture to taking a quick picture of a beautiful sunset.
2. Work with friends: This may not work for all of you, but by having an accountability partner, this will encourage you to work hard and share God’s love each and every day no matter how stressful it may be.
3. Take time to relax: You are probably thinking, “Relaxing? What even is that?” Friends, relaxing does exist and is essential to our body’s mental healthiness. Whether it is a couple seconds or an hour, take time to do something you enjoy. Whether it is reading a novel or painting, these meditating activities allow your brain to rest from “information overload.”

Don’t give up! Trust in God, and He will utilize your gifts to bless others.