There once lived a girl who was an excellent student. She was kind, happy, and what some would call a high-achiever. She loved studying for the sake of learning, and consistently received good grades. She was a favorite of all her teachers.

One day, a new teacher took over her history class. She felt like she had a good rapport with this teacher. He was fair and reasonable and did a good job explaining the information the class was studying.

Then the class took the first history test.

The girl studied hard, wanting to impress the teacher and show him what kind of student she was. She worked diligently to learn the information and to express the new concepts in diverse and colorful ways. She worked so hard that she barely had time to enjoy the rest of her life – she ate and slept, but she was living to pass this test.

The test results came back, and she was dismayed to learn she received a B-. She had always received As before, usually an A+ with extra credit. She asked the teacher after class why she had received the lower-than-expected grade. He replied that it was because she had forgotten to write her name at the top of the test and that she hadn’t cited her sources perfectly in the essay section.

The girl went back to her desk to gather her things, feeling deflated, embarrassed, and discouraged. She couldn’t help but think the lower grade was unfair after all her hard work. It wasn’t even based on the study material but on technicalities. In a burst of emotion, she crumpled up her test paper and threw it at the wall.

The teacher saw this and lowered her grade to a C+.

The despondent student trudged home, powerless and demotivated. She spiraled into a depression. “God, what is wrong with me? I worked so hard on this test. Why can’t my teacher understand? I love learning and doing a good job – it makes me happy.”

God replied to her heart, “Then why are you so sad?”

In that moment, she realized that her grade wasn’t what mattered. The information she had learned and the concepts she had internalized were valuable. Her diligent study would make her a better person, no matter what her teacher thought about her performance or how good a student she was.

She put the test behind her. She continued to study hard, but not to please her teacher this time, and not to earn the highest grade. She paid attention to her new teacher’s criticisms, including her name and properly citing her sources as much as possible. The minute details of filling out paperwork didn’t feel as valuable to her as learning the actual content for her exams, but she did her best. She still made mistakes, but she didn’t let them bother her; she only tried to learn from them.

Most of all, she enjoyed herself. She didn’t push herself to the edge of what her health could handle. She loved learning and doing a good job, and she focused on the joy of being able to do those things, rather than on her resulting grades.

She finished the class with a B+.

During this time, she began tutoring other kids in her class. She helped them understand historical data and concepts and explained how they fit together. She developed strong relationships with her fellow students and impacted their lives for the better, in more ways than one.

Eventually, this guided her to a career as a tutor for struggling kids, which made her feel happy and fulfilled throughout the rest of her life.

This story is an analogy of something I’ve been learning through my second pregnancy. Though I’ve been in excellent health (better than even during my great first pregnancy), I got a false positive on one of my tests. This put me “on the radar,” bringing about extra appointments, obligations, and paperwork.

This caused me stress and frustration that I felt shouldn’t have been there. That stress itself “lowered my grade to a C” and made me more worried and paranoid during the end of this pregnancy. I felt extra-watched and criticized at every turn, even though I’m in perfect health. (I was later vindicated and told my health is perfect, but that didn’t mean I could stop jumping through all the hoops to meet the requirements.)

But God has been using this situation to teach me more than how to deal with stress and criticism, or how to have a healthy pregnancy. My situation and the student’s above display a deeper spiritual truth: We do what we love because it’s who we are, not to earn a good grade.

When we let go of the desire for praise, recognition, or to earn someone’s favor, we can focus on doing the things we love for the sake of enjoying them.

This applies academically, spiritually, socially, etc. We learn who we are and what we enjoy. Circumstances and other people’s opinions can’t change who God has created us to be.

I love being healthy, I love how I feel, and I love learning through both head knowledge and experience how my body is growing my beautiful baby. I’ve put a lot of care, study, and good practices into this pregnancy, and that’s because it’s who I am – not because I want or deserve a doctor’s praise.

How about you? What in your life do you need to let go of so you can enjoy being you? Who do you need to stop trying to impress so you can bask in the bliss of communion with God and His constant and unchangeable favor over you?