When I was younger I loved to read. I would read almost anything I could get my hands on. Getting into a good book would take up hours of my time, time my other friends wanted to spend in different ways. Sitting with a book, for them, was painfully dull. I continued reading books, regardless of how lame my friends said it was. Reading brought me great joy and a sense of peace.

It can be difficult to keep doing something, even something you love, when those close to you disagree and put you down for enjoying it. But if you know something is good and if it brings you true joy it is worth suffering for, even when the suffering is brought on from those closest to you. Trust that Christ will give you the strength to persevere through the suffering needed to gain the greatest joy and peace of all, eternal life with Him.

Matt Davis is a senior psychology major (with a minor in gender and health studies) at the University of Michigan. He is an active student leader at St. Mary’s Student Parish in Ann Arbor.