This week is the last full week of classes in my undergraduate career (since next week, we only have three days of classes). Unbelievable. It's cliche, but four years of college have flown by. I came to Franciscan thinking that I may not even get a degree, figuring that I would leave early to join a convent somewhere. But God had other extraordinary plans. In just a couple of weeks, I will be graduating with my husband and moving to another state as we begin a whole new adventure together.
In these final days of the semester, I'm trying to consciously be with and for others. Yes, I still have papers to write and exams to take. So I'm trying to organize time to work on those, so that I have the freedom to be. Last week was a very difficult week for myself and many other people whom I spoke with. We all had tons of work in addition to other hardships that came up. So, over the weekend, my husband and I made time to be. We had a date. We played board games with a friend. We spent quality time together making food and talking.
After the weekend, I am more convinced than ever that all people need to make time to build and enjoy those relationships with others. Take an hour long break from homework and go out to coffee with a friend. Allow extra time for walking to class so that you have the time to leisurely stop and chat with people you meet along the way. Spend less time online (ironic, because I'm blogging haha) or on your phone and more time with others in person. Throw around a Frisbee with other people. Sit on the grass outside with friends and do nothing. Pick dandelions and sniff them until your nose/cheeks/face turns yellow (before and during my 1 p.m. class today, multiple people informed me that I was yellow from my beautiful dandelion bouquet). Talk with the people you've seen around for four years but have never actually met.
Once the semester ends, all of the students will scurry off to different jobs and different lives. Some people have no idea what they're doing over the summer or after graduation. In times like these, we need to cultivate trust. Here's a snippet from the Diary of St. Faustina to think about for the week:
" On Friday evening during the rosary, when I was thinking about tomorrow’s journey and about the importance of the matter which I was to present to Father Andrasz, fear seized me at the sight of my misery and incapability, and of the greatness of God’s work. Crushed by this suffering, I submitted myself to the will of God. At that moment, I saw Jesus, in a bright garment, near my kneeler. He said, Why are you afraid to do My will? Will I not help you as I have done thus far? Repeat every one of My demands to those who represent Me on earth, but do only what they tell you to do. At that, a certain strength entered my soul."
(#489)
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