Chalk Dust and Rain Water

There are certain things that fill my heart with such a great joy. For example, when I see a little kid playing outside jumping in the water, covered in sidewalk chalk, or just being a kid, my heart is so overjoyed. They're heart is so pure and they radiate such a joy that not the average person can show. Their life struggles involve not having enough snack time, having to go to bed early, or being required to read fifteen minutes each day as homework. Whoo! What a rough life! ;) Young children don't have to think too much about stress, keeping up with their faith life, or even keeping good relationships with people. It all kind of happens naturally. The only temptations that might come their way might be deciding if they should steal an extra milk carton at lunch or even hitting their younger sibling without their parents seeing. The only "making up" or asking for forgiveness they may have to do is talk to the person they hurt or sit in timeout for a length of time. Still though, their lives are generally pretty joyful and they make sure to show it!

Have you ever thought about how the life of a child can resemble the life of an average college student living in the midst of Christ? 

Hang with me here. This is going to make sense. Hopefully. 

Most college students face temptations and struggles every single day. I mean, I can't speak for all, but I know I struggle with this on the daily. College can be some of the best times, but also the worst. Students get so caught up on certain parts of their lives that they almost forget about other aspects that build who they are and who they were meant to be. We forget about the joy we experienced as a child or even in high school and turn to other things to fulfill those missing parts of our hearts, our souls. 

For some students, it's getting too caught up in schoolwork. I know what you're thinking. "Mary, how can that be a bad thing? Isn't that the reason why we're in college? To continue our education?" I mean, yeah, obviously. But when it becomes the main focus of your life, you begin to lose sight of who you really are and what you were made for. It gets in the way of your personality and relationships with others, including Christ. By not taking the time for others, those relationships begin to crumble. Soon, you might feel isolated from those who you felt most loved by. In a blink of an eye, everything can change. 

Before you know it, you're becoming even more distracted to fill the void in your life. Temptations to party and get over-intoxicated now fill your head. Maybe ideas of skipping class to hang with the wrong group of friends are now lingering. Maybe you turn to pornography and other impurities to try to numb the pain you're feeling. Drugs, stealing, thoughts of suicide, and mental illnesses, are all added to the plate. You look in the mirror and see a worthless, useless, piece of garbage. There's no way you deserve to be loved. How could you be? Look at all that you've gone through or maybe still struggling with. You're not worth it. 

Only, you are. 

You were made for love. 

Even if you go through this, Jesus is always there, tugging on your heart, waiting for you to reach out your hands to him. Those struggles you're going through? Give them to him. He wants you to place it all at the foot of his cross. 

In college, I've been blessed with an opportunity every Thursday to celebrate Adoration, confession, and Mass at the Newman Center (Catholic center) on UW-L campus with many other students. And let me tell you, it's one of the most beautiful two hours of my week. Although I'm not a part of the university, the students who go there are so open to letting me join them worship our God together. I am beyond thankful for this wonderful, God-filled group of people. People from all different walks of life are there, all praying to the same God. Celebrating the Eucharist with tons of college students is so amazing, but what really get's me is actually during Adoration. Nothing is more beautiful than seeing students line up outside of the confessional to receive the forgiveness and graces from Jesus Christ. We bring our baggage from the past week and have the courage to give it all to God. 

For some, they're struggling with something I stated above, and for others, it's something different. In the end, none of that matters. What matters is that they feel called to recognize their mistakes and choose to receive that forgiveness from God. Jesus doesn't care what you did or failed to do. All I know is that he is so incredibly overjoyed to see us there, ready to take on the next step of our faith journey's.

Confession plays a huge part of my testimony. If I hadn't been so open to it just a year ago, I would be nowhere near where I am today with my relationship with Christ. As a Catholic, I received my First Reconciliation in second grade, but it never meant anything to me. I've been to confession countless times, but it wasn't until freshman year of college where it actually became a huge part of my faith life. Every time I go, I enter the confessional with baggage. Some of it worse than other parts, but I know God doesn't care. He's heard it all! After receiving the graces, I leave, with a different feeling. It literally feels like a bag of bricks was lifted from my back and that joy I reflected as a child is back in my heart. 

Going to confession and living out Christ is a choice that people have to make. College is the time of our lives where temptations and struggles are everywhere. By noticing everything and making an effort to eliminate it from your life in order to find yourself and make room for God is honestly one of the best, most life changing choices we can make. Once we feel Christ at our core, our old, joyful child self is back, radiating the same love we felt years prior. Sure, we might not be full of sidewalk chalk or muddy, rain water, but we have a new sense of who we are and can then begin another day living in the light of Christ.

We're bound to make mistakes because we're imperfect humans. If we never made mistakes, something would be wrong! By recognizing it all but choosing to make an effort to end it is when our true strength comes out. Keeping God close to your heart, especially in college, can be extremely difficult. Make the conscious effort everyday to allow him to take over your heart. God wants your struggles and fears. Let him in your soul, and I promise, he will transform your life into ways you didn't think were possible.