drowning in papers

There comes a time every semester when I wonder if I will make it through. Will I complete everything, turn in everything on time, and earn a good grade? Or will I easily give up, letting go of the high standards I had at the beginning of the semester? If we go to school for the right reasons with the goal in mind of graduating in a timely manner and earning a good grade while we're at it, we need to consider everything that goes with it. For example, last spring I took 19 credits of prerequisites and was student teaching 20 hours a week as well as working 20-30 hours a week. Needless to say, I was in over my head. As a result, my grades didn't reflect all that I wanted them to. My student teaching wasn't planned as well as it should have been. And, most importantly, my spiritual life all but crumbled. I was racing around doing everything but ultimately doing nothing that would last. I was not cultivating my relationship with God and growing in Him. I would fall into bed at night and realize I'd not read the bible that day.
"oh well, I'll do it tomorrow," I would think. However, I was not devoted to growing in Christ as I should have been. I devoted myself to my classes, homework, and work, forgetting my Savior in the meantime. I cannot thank God enough that I went to Chicago and participated in SALT this summer. It truly woke me up to the most important thing I need to be doing in life: Serving God and growing in Him. Praise God for His mercy! He is so faithful when we make mistakes and screw up. Ever-loving, He does not let us stay where we are in the mud and mire, but seeks us out and brings us back to Himself because of His great love.
"We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." Romans 14:7-8