Have you started to coast towards the Christmas holiday?

Do you know what I mean?

I often describe this season of life on campus — between the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks — as “n0 man’s land” because students tend to come back from Thanksgiving… having enjoyed a nice 5-day break from classes and campus life, as well as a foretaste of the Christmas break that is to come, and all they can think about is getting as quickly to that next break as possible.

Most become so focused on getting from one break to the next they cease to think about much of anything else.

OK, the fact that most of them will have final exams and papers to deal with probably has a little to do with it as well… but the reality is that most student pull WAY back on ALL extra-curricular during these final few weeks of the term.

And what I’ve noticed for me is that it can be very easy to pull back myself and begin coasting on towards the upcoming holiday break.

“Students are busy… I should stay out of their way,” we can justify.

While true, I wonder what kinds of ministry opportunities we might be missing out on if we choose to retreat to our corner of campus (or off-campus… if that is the case), thinking that we’ll catch up when the new term begins in January?

This is the season on campus when stress levels soar and students need us to “be present” in order to help them navigate their emotions and deal with their stress in appropriate ways.

We need to be praying for them.

We need to make sure that they know we’re around and available during these next few weeks.

We need to check in on them. Social media and/or texting is a great, unobtrusive way to do this.

And hopefully we can also create a couple of opportunities for them to hang-out, let loose, blow of some of that steam and stress… and find a better way to move through to the end of the term.

Coasting… while enticing… is probably not an option for us.

What do you think?

What do you do for students during the weeks leading up to the end of a term?

How do you encourage and walk with stressed students?

How will you overcome the urge to “coast” to the holidays?

I’d love to know what you think! Take a moment to share your thoughts in the comment section below.