Apathy. It’s the worst possible thing that can attack the Christian heart, and with just eighteen days left in the semester, it is a disease that has infected the Cairn community. It spreads from person to person, pervading deep into the heart and mind. We suddenly find ourselves not caring about our grades, our class attendance, or whether we are taking notes in class or not. Suddenly Netflix looks even more inviting, and being around others is a trouble or a bore. We don’t care about each other anymore; there’s no reaching out or excited conversations like there was at the beginning of the semester. What’s worse, all of the Bible and Theology courses are taking their toll, whereas at the beginning of the semester we were doing devotions every night, or even once a week, now we don’t even touch our Bibles unless it’s for an assignment. Instead of marveling at how God provides, how God nurtures the earth, or how God gives us wisdom, we complain about the cafeteria food, we whine about the wet icky rain, and we complain that we have to do all this studying to pass one ‘stupid’ test. I say ‘we’ because I suffer from this just as much as you do. Especially at this point in the semester, apathy hits us hard. We get self-absorbed, and all we care about is how we feel, whether we’re going to pass, if we’re being happy or if we’re getting stressed out.

Let’s push pause, because we’ve forgotten what we believe: Life isn’t about you. It’s about loving others through Christ.

God gave us the greatest commandment. In fact, this commandment was given twice. Once by God, and once by Jesus. After all of your Bible classes, you know by now: if the Bible repeats it, it’s important. Jesus stated that the most important commandment is to love God and the second is to love your neighbor. However, it is all too easy in our modern-day 21st century lives to get self-absorbed and apathetic. Our iPhones become more important than the lectures our professors give, Netflix becomes more enjoyable than being social, and sleeping is much preferred over having to deal with adult life. But there is one thing that all of these preferences have in common: us. The focus is solely on our individual selves, what we want and what makes us feel good. That’s not loving others; that’s loving ourselves. So here’s the call, Cairn. Let’s cultivate a Cairn culture of care.

How do we do that? It’s simple. But simple doesn’t always mean easy. The simple way to start this caring culture is with LOVE. Instead of complaining about the rain, think about how amazing it is that God nourishes the earth. Instead of texting during class, listen to what the professor has spent time and effort into preparing to teach you. Instead of losing yourself in sleep or Netflix, spend some quality time with a friend. Phones down, old-fashioned quality time. Make life about others rather than yourself.

This is a very difficult thing to do, and it’s something that we all struggle with. But one little step goes a long way. If you’re feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, remember, you’re not the only one. Think of a friend who’s going through a hard time too and write them a note of encouragement. You might just find out that the words you give to encourage them will help you to feel better, too. Especially with all the stress of projects and finals coming up on us, changing our mindset to be about others instead of ourselves is going to be very hard. But it will be so worth it, and I guarantee that it will help take away the stress. God calls us to love others, and Cairn calls us to walk a different path. The way of the world is to love yourself. So let’s walk a different path. Let’s get out there and love.