God & Grades

Hello, late blog this week, but I still wanted to share something I have been learning and what this semester has taught me. 

This whole semester has been extremely busy. There is always something to do, and the academic pressure has been quite tough. 

In the midst of it all, I have been tempted to put all of my identity into school. It is so easy to do because everyone is encouraging you to do more and be better. Which is a great thing. I love seeing people my age actually care about their academics. 

I, too, like pushing myself to succeed and then seeing the fruit of my labor. 

But you know what a surefire way to make me absolutely hate it is? When I put my worth there. 

In my life, I have found myself asking the same question over and over again in different seasons.

Transparently, I am asking God what He cares about most and if He will be mad if I mess up. 

I have literally have googled 

“Does God care about my grades ?” 

“How much should a Christian care about physical fitness?” 

“Does God want me to have the perfect diet?”

“What does the Bible say about fun and entertainment?”

“Is it okay to take a break?”

And I have always been met with the same answer. Yes, God cares about all of these things. But they cannot and will never define me. They actually won’t fulfill me either. 

In the busyness and constant pressure of this semester, I have found that worry and anxiety are quite pointless. 

It’s admirable to do hard things, but when you are worn out, it is wise to transition to a more mindless assignment or chore or even carve out some time for some creativity in order to be rejuvenated. 

This past week when I found myself falling into my old mindset of putting all my worth in my grades, I was reminded of when I did this back in middle school and early high school. 

I made near perfect grades but was obsessive about it and was quite miserable. 

So, now as a college student- with lots of pressure from myself and others-  I have a choice to go back to that mindset or let what I know about God free me up. 

This is a season of my life where I have the time to invest in my academics, and it is wise of me to do so. But I also must not forget my true purpose in life and the real reason behind my desire to become a dietitian- which is not to be perfect and help everyone around me be perfect. 

It’s to honor God and navigate through this crazy life with a sound mind and capable body, taking as many people to Heaven with me as possible. 

God didn’t create us to be robots. He allowed us to experience emotions and the highs and lows of life so that we could be drawn closer to Him.   

This is an article I found that really encouraged me regarding academics and being a Christian. 

Do-good-grades-matter-too-much-to-you-part-two

If you made a grade less than what you desired or even if you are scared you might do so, here is some mindset shifts the article offers: 

• “This grade means I’m a failure; I’m stupid.”

  • “Our culture celebrates particular types of achievement. I refuse to give undue weight to a standard not found in the Bible. This grade is information to help me learn and grow; God determines my fruitfulness and effectiveness as I humbly depend on Him and persevere.”

• “This score proves I can’t do it; I tried my hardest, and I didn’t get the grade I wanted.”

  • “This subject matter may not be my strong area. But if God is able to use a poor grade to humble me and help me cling to Him and treasure the gospel more, it’s worth it. If my struggle in this area makes me better able to help others and know God, I can be thankful. I will focus on what God promises to help me do: I can pray; I can pay attention and engage; I can cultivate humility; I can plan ahead and seek help; I can pursue other resources to help me learn.”

• “I’m worthless because I got this grade.”

  • “Grades are information, not an evaluation of my worth. Because I’m still breathing, God has purposes for my life. My worth is not found in a human evaluation (1 Cor. 4:1-5). I am not going to focus on myself but on God. God created me for His glorious purposes, and those are not destroyed by a bad grade (Job 42:2; Phil. 1:6; 1 Thess. 5:23-34)

Here is another blog where I talk about this topic more in-depthly. 

https://baileenchavez.wixsite.com/happiesthere/post/confusion-as-a-christian

So this week study, work hard, stay focused on the right things, take your breaks when you need them, & leave the worry out of it. Just let your breaks be life-giving for a change. Preaching to myself here!

March flew by. This is my last post for the month. Talk to yall in May at that time! I am excited to be able to reflect on the semester. Time to finish strong. Yay for remembering that even while pursuing good things, I still absolutely need God.

Have a great rest of your week! 

• Bai 

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Not Another Day Dietetics