To My Fellow Teacher People

This week I have been lucky enough to have the chance (which is rare these days) to chat with two separate teacher friends. We traded ideas, and we traded woes. We discovered shared troubles and struggles.

It felt good. They are some of my people. Some of the people I can share my "I don't even know......" stories with and be met with grace instead of judgement. Some of the people I can vent a little to and walk away feeling a whole lot lighter. 

In fact, our brief conversations will get me through to Thanksgiving break because they were reminders that I'm not alone in my hardships or my quest for teaching greatness. So, I wouldn't change much about our conversations ... Except, thinking back on them, I would have been a little more intentional with how I let them end. 

See, I'm better with written word than in the moment speech. So here's what I wish I would have added to our goodbyes ... For them to read, and for you, too,  because if you're a teacher, or a person who has anything to do with a child, you likely need to hear this, too: ➡️➡️➡️

You are doing great things. You are affecting great change. Even though right now you may only see the tiny shiftings - with both students and fellow teachers alike - show, those are the building blocks of absolute greatness. Greatness just takes time .....and maybe occasional tears. 

You are a wonderful teacher. You are teaching those kiddos so much more than academics. Let's face it, they can't always "name" their learning - but it's obvious to those who knew them last year and have seen the growth in them this year. True, you can't take full credit for that, but you can, and should, take partial credit. A large serving of credit, even. They are growing in their thought processes and their ability to regulate their emotions and behaviors, as well as in their academics, and so much of that is due to you. 

I see you. I see you all those days you're here early and on those days you feel you're barely making it but show up with a smile anyway. I see you fighting hard for kids when you see a need, and working to figure out how to fight for kids when you know their is a need but you don't have it quite figured out yet. I see you staying late, giving every thing you can to make tomorrow, and next week, as close to perfect as teaching can be - for your own kiddos and your lucky coworkers, too.

Goodness knows we are all extra hard on ourselves, but your small wins? I see them, too. Even when you don't and when you feel like noone else does either. I see (and *feel*) how indispensable you are to the rest of us and those precious kiddos, too. I'm thankful, daily, that you're doing this teaching life with me and that I get to pick your brain, learn from you, vent with you, and see you impact the lives of our kids. 

The kids adore you. I've never met a single one that didn't. Even when they don't act like it. Even on those days when they do wacky things and attempt to test your crazy. You are their safe place, their comfort zone. They know you've got them .... and sometimes that brings the comfort level for all the things - good and bad alike. ......but mostly good. And when there is some "bad", well, that's when you show them how much you really do have their backs with some of that tough love the best teachers can dish out. 

Because, ultimately, you are the best. 

Oh, I know you don't always *feel* like it ... but you never fall short of it. Even on the rough days, you are giving your all and doing wonderful, amazing, world changing things. One kid at a time. One team at a time. One blessed teacher friend at a time. 

So, thanks. Thanks for making my wild days feel more normal and reminding me to come back tomorrow ready to try with renewed gusto. Thanks for encouraging the best in me and the good I have to give. Thanks for showing up and pushing through and being great. 

You rock, and noone says it enough. So....save this so you can read it again later. 😉

Flash Back

Just about a year ago, I started this post: 

"This week our elementary school has been virtual. Me, alone in my classroom teaching students who are at their homes.  It's only 1 week ... But it's taught me so many thinhs about technology and parent contact and it's reminded me of so many things about kids. 

I was reminded the very first moment of my first google meet that I really prefer teaching when kids are in my classroom instead of on my computer screen.

I was reminded the very second moment that the kids actually prefer being in my classroom to seeing me on a computer screen, too. 

By the third moment I started being shown pets and Christmas trees and houses and little brothers and sisters and I was reminded that my kids come from so many different places. We're all here within in this same town ... But there are so many different backgrounds.

As kids turned in work they were doing without any teacher support it became obvious how wide the divide amongst my crew is. How some clearly had plentiful parent support replacing the teacher support ... And how some clearly didn't. How some had a quite work environment, good for completing assignments....and some were attempting to concentrate through noise and diatravtion. LHow some had a priority placed on keeping up with school work, and how some had other things taking priority."

I never finished the post. 

I assume it was because that week was crazy and then in person school resumed and was crazy, and then I forgot about it because life stayed crazy.... 

BUT reading it the other day was an awesome reminder for me of the things that became so obvious last year. The things that are still so obvious this year. 

My kiddos are still coming from all those situations. They don't come from "level playing fields". They don't get the same amount of support and not all their families place the same priority on the same things. They don't all eat that well, or rest that comfortably, or have smooth and easy mornings .... At least not always.  

And then they come to school (thank goodness I don't have to say "and then they log on").... And they all need a million different things

Or maybe they all need the same things: a little grace and patience. A listening ear and an understanding word. To be welcomed and loved. To receive their education with a side of "let's figure this out so you can be the absolute greatest you" instead of a side of "because I said so". 

Because even in the days where it's hard for them to remeber it - let alone show it - they actually do want to be their best self. 

And no matter where they are coming from or what kind of morning they had they ALL are the absolute best thing their parents have to share with me. 

Seriously. There is not a single parent who is keeping their best child hidden and sending me their worst child. Each of my kiddos is their parents greatest thing - the prize possessions of their households.

...and I better be treating them as such. 

That Simple

This world has become a pretty complicated place. It bleeds into our lives in lots and lots of ways. We can't avoid it, it's just the way it is. 

We have complicated kids coming from complicated situations. We have complicated family dynamics and complicated social settings. There are complicated mental health issues and complicated thungs people ask us to figure out.

Our jobs are complicated, and paperwork is complicated, and keeping everyone happy as we fill all our different roles is complicated. 

And we embrace it, and muddle through it, because, well, we have to. 

.....but maybe not everything has to be quite that complicated.

At the end of a Bible study this morning, as we looked at Paul's discussion in Romans where he is aiming to prove that the gospel is for all, Jews and Gentiles alike, Uncle Jamie pointed out that Paul presented chronological evidence as if to say "it really is that simple". 

See, the Jews were complicating things, and the Gentiles were complicating things, and Paul seemed to be trying to get them to see that the debate was *actually* already settled because of the way God set things up. It really was just that simple.

That statement got me thinking about a lot of other things we discuss and dwell on. I will be the first to tell you we cannot ignore the complicated.l when we look at our world. We cannot pretend everything is simply black and white .... Butt we can choose to see the simple and some of the moments and decisions that we face. 

For one thing, am I doing with the Bible says, or am I not? In a lot of instances, it really is that simple ... Or at least it should be.

Am I worshiping the way God laid out worship? Or am I adding in men's traditions and treating them as doctrine?

Am I loving my brother and in the way got intended for me to do? Or am I allowing myself to be blind to my brother and sins in an attempt to "not offend"?

In my upholding the standards of modesty, the standard of life, that God asked his followers to have? Or, is the influence of the world around me dragging me down?

Am I about the work of my Heavenly Father? Or have I let this world, and it's temptations and concerns, distract me?

Maybe, just maybe, amidst all the complicated .... I need to strive to get back to the simplistic nature presented in the Bible. 

Follow God. Keep His commandments (all of them). Do His will. Strive to be more like Christ. 

It really is that simple. 

Partners

Sometimes he folds the towels "wrong" and claims not to know where the girls clothes go and sometimes I drive him crazy by stuffing the trash can too full instead of just emptying it and ordering too many packages from Amazon.

But sometimes?

Sometimes he cuts wood with the help of one kiddo, and I put my grades in while the other kiddo reads to me. 

Sometimes he washes the dishes while I drop off kids at daycare. 

Sometimes he starts kid bath time while I pick up the living room. 

Sometimes he orders a pizza while I finish a project ... and kid bedtime sure is easier when we tag team. 

One Wednesday I wasn't feeling well and he took the girls to church. One Wednesday he worked late and the girls and I headed out without him.

Some days - and weeks - he carries the weight because I'm stressed or sick or tired. Other times I carry the load because work and commitments keep him busy. 

Sometimes we have misunderstandings and argue. Sometimes we read each others mind without a word. 

We are never fully perfect. But we are always full partners ... And I am SO thankful for that. 

In Our Own Heads

Oh, to be as honest as the young ones are.

"Why did you do that?" I asked him. 

"I just follow whatever I want in my own head!" was his agitated reply. 

At the time that response frustrated me. Immensely. I really try not to do this, because it gives away my frustration, but I sighed - out loud - before responding. Then I said the best thing I could think of: "I guess that's why it's so important to think very carefully about the things we want in our own head." 

I ended our conversation still frustrated and not actually sure what discipline action was appropriate, and that led to me replaying the conversation in my head many, many times. 

.

On one such run through I realized that probably, the conversation we'd has was probably enough, and that the real reason I was stuck replaying the conversation was I actually needed to take my own advice. 

He was an impulsive 4th grader who was doing what popped into his head and seemed like the thing to do. 

I should be a less impulsive person seeing as I am.not a 4th grader .... But all too often I find myself doing the same thing. My own desires tempt me, my own thoughts "run amuck" and steer me wrong.

That kiddo, in a moment of his own frustration, said to me such honeat words "I just follow whatever I want in my own head." He had no real "reason" to offer me for his actions, and he was too honest to pacify me with excuses ... He simply had done what popped into his mind. 

How often do my actions scream that same thing to God? 

Oh, I don't go around intentionally telling God I'm doing my own thing, and chances are you don't either. But when we look at the root of our sometimes careless actions? When we truly dig to the heart of our issues and the tough situations we find ourselves in ... Isnt "I just followed whatever I wanted in my own head." often the real, true, catalist to much of our trouble? 

I didn't think it through. I didn't plan to sin. I didn't mean for this to happen. I just followed what I wanted in my own mind.

It will land us in a sticky situation every time. 

So, instead, I have to heed my own advice: It's so important to think very carefully about the things we want in our own heads. 

Because when our own wants don't match up with God's wants? We better think about them. When our first choice, or the fun choice, or the easy choice might possibly not be the right and best choice? We better think about it. In moments of passion? Frustration? Mere reaction? We better think about those things in our own head - and compare them to God's things very carefully ..... 

Because those things we want in our heads are also often the same things our own hearts know better than. 

One Piece Of Straw

Last Wednesday night I was rushing around to get ready in hopes of getting us all out the door on time for mid week Bible study. 

It's not an uncommon occurrence, the rushing. I'd stayed at school a little later than I planned to get one more thing done and then done a few "one more thing"s at home, too. Somewhere in tbe middle of starting a quick load of laundry realized I *had* to get going. So, I gave the girls a "5 min and we're getting dressed" warning and hurried into my closet to figure out what to wear myself.

Their "5 minute warning" didn't leave me much time to get myself around, and as I moved too quickly  through my closet, disaster struck. It started when I walked in - my elbow brushed a belt I had hooked over some shoes, and the shoes tumbled to the ground. No big deal, I picked them up. As I reached for a skirt and pulled down the hanger, a dress slipped off and hit the floor. The shirt didn't work how I wanted  - and grabbing my second choice resulted in another dress hitting the floor. When I turned around to hang the dresses back up, a stack of scarves I had folded toppled over, so then I had to pick them up. By the time I had them picked up, one daughter was yelling for me from her bedroom and the other was tracking me down. I had to fight back a meltdown because I *just* wanted 5 minutes of chaos free time to get ready for church so I could feel pulled together and ready to wrangle my kids .... And it simply wasn't happening. 

And here's what I'm trying to tell you: the straw that broke the camel's back wasn't any heavier than the other pieces of straw. It simply got placed at the wrong moment when the stack was already feeling heavy and high.

The scarves getting knocked over wasn't a big deal. Usually. 

The shoes falling down? That took two seconds. 

A shirt not fitting right? Well, I mean, aren't we all used to that?

But right then? In that moment? It added up all wrong. And all those little things came crashing down in a big heap of overwhelming. 

And how do you move on from that?!

....one live of straw, at a time, I suppose.

You pick an outfit and you hang up the others. You shove the pile of scarves into a basket (or, ya know, fold them back up, whichever). You pick up the shoes. You calm the children. 

One piece of straw - one thing - one moment - at a time. The same the straw got piled up? You unpile it. 

One piece at a time, with lots of deep breaths in-between, the overwhelming gets manageable again - and you keep moving forward. 

Not Alone

The pains I don't know how to ease. 

The heartbreaks I can't fix.

The unfair situations I have no power over. 

The struggles I have no solution for. 

The worries that I only have words to attempt to ease.

The tears I can only wipe and hug away. 

The problems I can't solve. 

The trauma I can't take away.

The realities I can't fathom, let alone make less harsh. 

God is aware of them. 

Where I am powerless, He is still powerful. 

When I can only hug, He can bring peace to hearts.

When all I can do is offer a temporary retreat form the harshness of the real world, He is hard at work in the trenches. 

Where I have no solutions, no answers, He has a master plan. 

When words fail me, He doesn't need me to speak them aloud.

Most of all, He is aware. He is on it. He is working. 

In all the sickness, all the hurt, all the world .... He is there. And He will prevail. 

When the days are long and the worries are mighty .... He is mightier.

He's holding all the sweet babies in His hand. He's with them, too, in a greater way than I can ever be  That's what I'll be reminding myself  as I search for sleep tonight.

They are not alone. God's aware. He's on it. He's got them.