Not Just Another Year

Tomorrow I begin my 10th year of teaching! It really is crazy to think it’s been that long.    I’ve always known I was a teacher.  God put it in my heart when I was a little girl and I was teaching every afternoon in my bedroom.


I realize now more than ever that it is so much more than actually just teaching “skills”.  I was reading Heather’s post over at Petals of Joy the other day.  She wrote about what she wanted the parents of her students to know.  I think she’s a middle or high school teacher, but a teacher nonetheless.  I was in tears by the end of her post!  She wrote it so beautifully!  This part really spoke to me:

“I feel responsible for the next generation in mind-blowing ways. This is a heavy burden. I sense its weight each time I step into my classroom. I understand—really understand—how great the task is that lies before me. The question Am I making a difference? is a constant.
But I know my job is worth it. I know this in the way I know my students are worth every ounce of effort in my body. And when I see the light behind a teenager’s eyes? Every fiber, every muscle, every tendon tightens and then soars. The light of knowledge is mine to bestow. The role is serious. Success is always just a breath away. Sometimes I’m holding mine. When my students get it? I can smile. I can breathe.
Because really, I’m teaching them about life. Each day. A new lesson teaching rhetoric, similes, or Thoreau is really a lesson about life. How we’re connected. How we’re living. How we’re breathing.
And you must know, you absolutely must know—I pray for my students. Their hurts break my heart. Magic wands and pixie dust don’t work in this real world. I know there is only One who has the power to heal souls. So my knees are raw from the bending and stooping over the desk of your precious one.
I love your sons and daughters. And while a need for education may be the reason they walk through my door, my deepest desire is that my students know they are loved. This is my goal. My objective. My mission.
Because they will know my sweet Jesus by my love. And even though His name can’t even be a whisper on my lips within school walls, I will love your children. I will love them because He first loved me. I will be His light in their darkness.And because I love your sons and daughters, they will learn. They will learn all that matters in this life. They will learn because they are loved.
By this all people will know that you are My disciples,if you have love for one another John 13:35 (HCSB).”

The whole post she wrote is amazing and if you have time you should read the whole thing. 

Tomorrow brings excitement!  New faces to love! New possibilities!  I can’t wait!