How To Take God To School With You Everyday

We all start off the new school year with gusto, refreshed from the summer and ready to put all our energy into schoolwork. We think, “This is my year! I’m ready to kick some textbook butt!” But a moment often hits us, sometime in mid-September—or if you’re super dedicated, early October—when we’re sitting in the library, bored out of our minds, memorizing flashcards for a subject we don’t plan on pursuing, and we start to question ourselves: “Why is this so important? Why should I try?”

The honeymoon stage is over. At this crucial moment, when the weather is still so nice and we would much rather be outside doing anything other than reviewing these infernal flashcards, we need to make a choice. We need to recommit to our original decision. There won’t be as many exclamation points this time as there were on our first day of classes, but this second declaration is the more important, and more difficult, one.

We can prepare ourselves for that moment, or avoid it completely, by sitting down now and thinking about why this school year is important. We don’t often think to invite God into our scholarly experience, because on the surface, there’s nothing spiritual about school. So let’s dig deeper.

Study in Gratitude

We have all heard the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). In this parable, the master of the house gives his three servants a certain amount of money, or talents. Two of the servants were able to return to their master having doubled the money. But one servant, afraid of losing the money he was given, buried his talent in the ground.

Which kind of servant do you want to be? We can think of the talents as symbols for life and the opportunities we are given. We want to be able to return to God and say, “Thank you for what you have given me; here is what I have done with it.” In school, as in life, we are offering the fruits to God, thanking Him for what He has given us.

Study Knowing the End Goal

Our school years are an opportunity for us to explore and discover how we can impact the world while doing what we love. Sonita Lontoh, in an article for Forbes Magazine, writes, “True happiness comes from the intersection of doing what we love, what we’re good at, and what the world needs.”

Father Moon, founder of the Unification faith, encourages us to think about the purpose of our studies, in The Way for Students: “What is the ideal attitude of your study? It surely is ideal to study for oneself, but it is more ideal to study for the family than for yourself, for the country than for the family, for the world than for the country, and for the universe than for the world. It goes like that.” Father Moon tells us to keep ourselves as a part of the equation, but to ultimately study for the sake of the universe. This means that it is our responsibility to find a path that will excite our passions and that can also impact the world.

Study to Inspire and Be Inspired

Whether or not we talk openly about our faith, we represent God in our daily lives. If we take school as an opportunity to stand for God and see things through God’s eyes, the people we come in contact with can be inspired to do so too.

If you look, you can find God in every subject: in the intricacies of science; the vast history of humanity to which God has been a parent since the beginning of time; the rich cultural aspects of God in anthropology and foreign language; the yearning for our true selves in literature and poetry. All subjects give you the opportunity to discover a new side of God, to really appreciate what God created and bring a spiritual sense of wonder into your studies.

Father Moon tells us that the purpose for everything is love and happiness—even school. “What do you go to school for? Where do you want to use what you have learned at school? It must be for happiness. There would be no way for happiness to exist if we got rid of love. Thus, we can say that we go to school in order to shorten the path of love.”

By discovering a higher purpose in your studies, you are opening yourself up to new ways of receiving God’s love. But also, as a representative of God, you can bring this awareness into school. Your peers will see what you see, and be inspired too.

What is the purpose of your studies? How much are you paying to be there—in time and money? Who are you representing? Ask yourselves these questions, write down your own answers so you can refer back to them when the going gets tough, and share them in the comments below!