Dear Tired College Student,

I get it. I understand completely why you are wearing sweatpants, carrying an extra large coffee, and mumbling about deadlines. I'm not here to tell you to suck it up or carry on; I'm just here to say I get it. College can be overwhelming.

When you're leaving high school, everyone tells you that college will be so much easier because you can pick your schedule and arrange things however you'd like. That's true, but there is also so much else that can take up your time in college. Take from someone taking 18 hours, working part time, and going to a classroom placement several times a week: I understand being exhausted.

There is also the social element involved in college life that tries to eat up your time. Let's face it: we'd all rather watch a movie with our suitemates than write a paper for class. We would all rather go out with friends than finish our assigned reading.

Here's what I can offer you: hope. Yes, sometimes college stinks. However, remember why you're here. You're here so that you can learn all you can. You're here so you can capture every moment. You're here so that one day you can get a job and, hopefully, make a difference. Also, there is hope, because this semester will end. Before long, it will be fall break, then Thanksgiving break, and then Christmas break. Before long, it will be summer again, and we'll question where the year has gone. Before long, we will be trying on long black robes and placing square, ebony hats with tassels on our heads. We're tantalizingly close.

Your hard work is not in vain, and it does not go unnoticed. Ultimately, although we do work towards a great end, we work as unto the Lord. 1 Peter 3: 1-6 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials."

So, tired college student, whatever "griefs" and "trials" you may be enduring, whether they be papers, portfolios, or just managing general college stress, please know that you work toward a larger goal and your working is not in vain. For one day, you will have an inheritance that will never be destroyed and will never fade. Work your hardest this year and know that everything you do is unto Christ.

Love,

A fellow stressed college student