The life of a college student is far from easy. Professors give us too much homework to handle; our boss schedules us for shifts we can’t work; the on-campus students have mandatory hall meetings that they loath; and we rarely have enough time to eat a healthy meal – let alone exercise.

Things everywhere tend to go wrong, and when they do, it makes our lives seem miserable. As I was thinking about this, I realized I complain.

If not out loud, I was ranting to myself as I rushed to class because the shuttle schedule never seems to align nicely with my school schedule. But then I thought, “God didn’t say that my life would be easy and that it would go exactly according to my plan.”

On the contrary, He said my life would be difficult, and that it would go according to His plan, not mine.

So, as I continued on my long trek from fourth floor Naz to Mel Johnson wearing my moderately uncomfortable high heels, I began to realize that in 10 years, it isn’t going to matter that my plan to catch the shuttle failed and now I had blisters that shot pain through my feet.

Then I thought to myself, “How many things that annoy, frustrate or disappoint me from day to day really make a difference down the road?”

This summer, I had the opportunity to take an internship with a magazine in Ventura, Calif.

I would have spent my summer laying on the beach and listening to the ocean waves crash against the sand while also working for a magazine that would have been an outstanding experience for me.

Then this spring, my grandmother got sick and moved home with my family. Around the same time, my uncle who was battling lung cancer had a bad spell and later found out the prognosis was not very good.

I made the decision to stay home for the summer. It was not my first choice, but it was the best choice. Although there were times I wished I would have went to California, I knew that I would much rather be there for my family when they needed me the most, rather than taking an internship that would have taken me miles away.

Now, when I think about the frustrations of graduating a semester later than I had intended, I know that in the end, it doesn’t matter.

I will still graduate. I will still earn a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. And I will still, hopefully, find a job and continue on into adulthood. In 10 years, it won’t matter that my plans didn’t pan out the way I wanted them to. But in ten years, I know that it will matter that I was there for my family.

So, I implore you to ask yourself when you feel a rant coming, “Does it really matter?”

In 10 years it is not going to matter that our boss is frustrating, our professors are sometimes intolerable, and the shuttle schedule is never what it needs to be.

In 10 years, we’re not going to look back and remember how many boring hall meetings we sat through or how many chapels we slept through.

In 10 years, what is going to matter is how we were there to show Christ to the ones we love. It is going to matter that we kept a positive attitude through the most frustrating and heartbreaking situations because God was there with us. It is going to matter that we didn’t take 18 credits so we could make sure we had enough time in our day to spend time with the One who loves us the most.

Then, for rest of our lives, we can look back and say, “God mattered, and still matters, the most.”