Don't Be Fret, Just Be Calm

In my school days, we dreaded examinations so much that we usually lost our cool and, with it, our faith in God and in ourselves. The shout of START by the invigilator only increased our trepidation. As we opened the exam question paper, we wondered what they would be - the familiar or the strange; the expected or the dreaded. Beads of sweat would envelope our faces. Pens would dance 'palongo' in trembled hands.

A few times, the questions were greeted with a smile or, fewer times, a hearty laughter. By and large, it was a war of some sort. As the war neared the end, we were usually concerned about the legacy we were leaving behind - a legacy that would soon unfold by the teachers' marks. And so, we scrambled to end well, seizing every minute, labouring harder to improve on our legacy. Sometimes, it worked. Sometimes, it didn't. Success or failure, we trudged on till a school chapter was closed for another to open. Some fell by the way side. The dread of examinations left many casualties.

I learned those days to be different. I chose not to see an examination as a war but rather as an opportunity to demonstrate what I had learned. I would usually maintain my cool. To achieve that I would not read 30 minutes before any test; would finish my attempts at the questions with, at least, 15 minutes to spare for review; would not discuss the answers until the scripts were returned by the teachers; and would maintain a cheerful disposition, no matter what. The result were strings of astounding academic achievements from school to school. It worked.

I am learning to do the same with the tests the Lord and the circumstances put my way. 'Don't fret', I would tell myself. 'Just be calm and enjoy the ride through the roughs and the straights of tests of life.' Tests are not meant to destroy us. We destroy ourselves when we allow fear to win over faith, depression to win over joy, and resignation to win over determination.

Tell me: what will you do with your tests today? You can either write the test with faith and confidence in God or allow the test to ride you with fear and trembling. Which will it be?