Thankful for Homework?

Hello! My name is Emily, and I am currently a freshman at Eastern University.  I am a double major in business management and dance, a part of the Leadership Fellows Program, and also involved in other various on-campus clubs and activities.  With such a full schedule, many classes, and usually lots of homework, I recently have realized that it is easy for me to become negative and to dwell on the difficulties I’m facing when I’m feeling stressed and pressured.  Because of this, I plan to use this blog to encourage myself to look at the bright side of life!  Each week for the rest of the semester, I plan to come up with one thing that I am thankful for and to share it with you! This could include a person, a place, a memory, something that happened that week, etc., this way, I can be reminded of all the great things in life while hopefully inspiring you to do the same!

After thinking about what I am thankful for this week, I have realized that, despite how much work I have to do, I am thankful for the opportunity to attend a school where I can learn and grow.  A study conducted on campaignforeducation.org found that 70 million children across the world are unable to attend school.  That seems like a pretty ridiculous number if you ask me.  God could have easily made me one of those 70 million kids, and I’m not sure why, but He didn’t.  That’s not all though, I had the option to pick which school I wanted to go to.  Not only do I attend a school – I attend the school that I chose to attend.  I attend a school where I can not only learn the basics, but can expand on them and study what I love.  I attend a school where I can freely be myself, openly love Jesus, dance, make friends, join clubs, and eat an endless supply of food. It’s almost embarrassing how much of a luxury that seems to be after putting things into perspective.  Some kids don’t have the option to go to any school to begin with, and here I am with an endless supply of options when it comes to my education. It’s an unfair reality that I will never understand, but all I can do is be thankful and use the opportunity I have to the best of my ability.  Looking at statistics like those makes me not only thankful to be able to attend school, but it also pushes me to study and use the knowledge I obtain over the next four years to find a way to reach out to those 70 million.

School can often seem like a boring, stressful, or bothersome requirement, but it’s something that too many people all over the world long for and are deprived of.  This motivates me to be thankful and use the opportunity that God has given me to attend school.  Next time I am tempted to complain about writing a paper or having to study for a quiz, I am going to challenge myself to be thankful for the fact that I have been given homework, rather than dwelling on the negative thoughts racing through my mind as I struggle through my assignments.  I know I can’t be the only one dealing with this, so if you are in school, I encourage you to remember this and to challenge yourself to do the same!