By Ellen Yu, InterHigh Mentor, Senior @ UC Berkeley

Finals is the time when the concepts you didn’t quite master (or learn) the first time around catch up with you. The vast amounts of information that you must absorb, sometimes quite literally by noon tomorrow, can cause much anxiety and impair sight of the eternal perspective.

During this past finals season, I experienced the anxieties of reviewing and learning what seemed to be a hopeless amount of material. And yes, my sight of the eternal was also impaired. However, in the midst of all the frantic studying, two things really helped me during the battery of tests and papers, reminding me to refocus on God.

First, refocusing the purpose of my studies in terms of an eternal perspective helped me to let go of what would have otherwise been all consuming anxiety.

When academic achievement becomes the basis for your sense of self-worth, instantly, that final becomes extremely stressful. After all, your performance on that three hour test determines your worth, buddy. But, Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross symbolizes that we no longer need to work our way to salvation or self- worth because He has already done it for us on the Cross. (Ephesians 2:8-9, 2 Timothy 1:9) His sacrifice means I no longer need to work my way to earn worth. As a Christian, I know that my worth is not and can not be determined by my own might, but by God and God alone. So, regardless of whether I do well or don’t do well on that final in two hours, God sees me the same. And, while the world may measure me on the basis of my material achievements, I know that it is only God’s view of me that matters. .

However, before I gave up on studying altogether, I had to keep something else in mind: I am a steward of all that God has given me, including my studies. God has entrusted me with the opportunity to study, and to be entrusted with something does not mean to let it go to waste. A Bible study message additionally especially challenged me to view my studies from an eternal perspective. Namely, that my studies were an opportunity to grow in my character skills (such as discipline) which were transferable to my spiritual life. Also, because stress often gives way to impatience, it leads to the lowering of spiritual guards. In other words, finals is an opportunity to be especially spiritually vigilant and stretch my character.
Secondly, keeping up with devotional times during finals really helped me to refocus and check my attitude during finals. Especially observant of how my stress after the Bible study message, I saw that my stress gave way to the guards that I had previously put up. Through reflection, I caught myself worrying about how I would do on my next test, allowing fears of failure to grip me, and clinging tightly to what I felt was “my” time. During those times, I was able to check myself, repent, and correct myself of those wrong attitudes. I was able to prevent those attitudes from growing and festering more.

Though finals can be an anxiety ridden time, by checking my attitude towards my studies and maintaining spiritual disciplines, I was able to refocus on God in the midst of an otherwise stressful time. I was able to keep an eternal perspective.