“Did you check the syllabus?”

It’s that time again where we are settled into this school year, and you’ve probably already heard this question in response to a rather frantic question. The syllabi have been passed out for a few weeks now and students have already started to look through the syllabus 5 minutes before class starts to find out they forgot to do the assignment. Talk about stress!

I myself have been caught in the stressful whirlwind of college. To be honest, I still am! I’m writing this article even though I have a few assignments due. The stress and anxiety of college is unavoidable. College students are at that point in life where so much is being required of us. To name a few: be certain of the career you want for the rest of your life, get good grades in the classes for that uncertain plan, have a steady relationship, have a great group of friends that never hurt you or talk bad about you behind your back, etcetera, etcetera. There’s more?! Oh yeah!

The question then stands: how do I cope with this stress? Well there are tons of lists of ten, fifteen, or twenty out there telling you the best ways to make it through college stress-free. These lists are great! Please read them! I’m not going to write a list out for you, though. I’m just going to ask you a question you’ve already heard: Did you check The Syllabus?

Now you may be thinking I’m just going to advise you to stay on top of your assignments and make sure they’re turned in on time. While a good practice, procrastination is still unavoidable. I actually do not ask my question in an academic way at all. I’m asking you if you’ve found in God’s Word, The Syllabus, His plan for you.

In this time when we are required to have all the answers and have our future planned out to a “t”, at the end of the day, we’re still human. Our futures are out of our control. Well that’s just another thing to be stressed about, isn’t it? Well let me provide an excerpt from The Syllabus: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11.

Our futures are not our own, but they are in much more capable hands. God knows our future and He provides a future of hope for us, not of evil or sorrow. Now letting God have control is definitely not the easiest thing to do. We have doubts about our majors, we flunk a test, we go through break ups and friends talking behind out back. How are we supposed to let go through all that? Give me the wheel, God!

But did you check The Syllabus? That frustration is in there, too. “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.” – Psalm 13

Fully trusting in God is never easy, but He does have a plan for us and there is His light at the end of all things. As humans, we want to have control over our lives. It’s hard to not have full control. I can fully appreciate that fact being the control freak that I am. The Syllabus provides us with the peace, hope, and comfort needed to make it through life.

Relying in God’s Syllabus,

JS