God's Classroom

From May 6, 2011

Life with God is kind of like a classroom, right?

So if we’re gonna run wild with this metaphor - I was being a delinquent.  Going to school, but not paying attention.  Or skipping class.  Yet foolishly wondering why I wasn’t making any progress on my school work.  Why my report card was so mediocre, if even that?  Telling myself “Oh, I’m pursuing God…but nothing’s happening”, when really, I was kind of half-assing it (I hate cursing in any extent, but I really don’t know a better term for that ha).

And then something happens, because you know, even if I’m not caring enough about my studies, God cares about how I’m doing.  So in this drought I’m floundering through, He’s using it to slowly transform for me.  Build me up towards something.  And I’m not realizing it, still complaining about my grades and how nothing’s going on in my life, until it all comes to a head and an epiphany happens.  And God uses something that’s ridiculous yet totally makes sense (like, I dunno, Demi Lovato) to smack me across the head and tell me in the nicest, most loving possible way, “You need to get it together.  And here’s how.”

And he shows me a wealth of things.  I am back in the classroom, attentively studying, learning so so so much from Him.  And things finally feel right.  My GPA is back up there.  I’m enjoying life.  With my new knowledge, everything is making sense once more.

But then after the lessons, the studying, everything that God’s teaching me comes the test.  And things aren’t as peachy any more.  The workload is getting kind of hard, and boy is it tempting to fall back into my old habits of not paying attention in class and skipping out.

But I can’t.  Because this is the time where I put all of what I’ve learned into practice.  And I will pass this test.  And I will graduate into the awesome will that God has for my life.  He just had to teach me a few things before I was ready to get there.

Kind of cool, right?  Just dawned on me.  Because it’s exam time for me (in the sense of this spiritual metaphor, seeing how I’m done with all the academic schooling I’ll ever do), and it’s kind of gotten a tiny bit hard again, especially in comparison to the high of learning lessons from God that I was just on.  But you know, this is an open-book test (you know what Book I’m talking about), plus my Professor is sitting across the room the whole time if I need anything.  It’ll take something of me, but I’ll pass this.  With God, I can pass anything.

So can you.  Keep faith when things get a little dark.  Don’t forget all that God has showed you - it’ll get you through.  Eyes on Him, and everything else just falls into place.  That’s my rough paraphrasing of Matthew 6:33.