Every once in a while, I stop and wonder why I've been pursuing a career and training as a teacher. Then, of of the kindergarteners I work with comes out with something really adorable and I think Awwww! That's why! And every once in a while, I'm reading the college newspaper or a syllabus and see a wrong spelling of a word, or a dreadful mistake in punctuation or grammar, and I think Ugh! That's why!
I really ought to have titled this post "How Easily Elisabeth Gets Off Track."
Yesterday I got out of math and went to meet a friend of mine, as previously arranged. We were in Computers 101 last fall, and as we happened to be about the same age, and to be the members of the degenerate yet technologically literate generation that the older people in the class would turn to for assistance, we wound up hanging out, sitting next to each other in class, etc. In our quiet discussions and in class break we got to know each other some and now we're back again, hanging out.
We wound up, yesterday, on the topic of public schools. Or rather, her experiences in hers. She shared some things about her school and why she dropped out (she's very smart and very practical), and about her life in general. The things I heard about the school clicked with things I'd heard about others, perhaps summed up as said in The Outsiders: "Things are rough all around."
I strolled with her to meet her ride, and we talked about languages and geography. However, she had no sooner driven away when I felt a tremendous pressure, the Holy Spirit telling me to go, sit down, pray for the school system, right then. I found the nearest picnic table and sat right down - the order was not optional - and prayed what the Spirit brought up to my heart for several minutes, realizing most of the way through that I was speaking aloud, regardless of who might be going by. What I prayed was for the people in the schools, not the financial or administrative issues, but for the futures of the people in them. It was for healing.
After that...and after a good while spent slightly stunned, before my next class...I went to my first Developmental Psychology class where (just for extra measure) I heard more about what is going on inside our schools (our professor a) was in the education field for 38 years in counseling, etc. and b) loves talking about himself and his experiences).
Basically, I got a solid reminder as to why I'm really in this field. It's because the kids in our schools need help. It's because they need the hope that can only be given by God, the love He demonstrated in Jesus. It's not for the moment when one of them mixes blue and yellow and cries out in delight, "It's like magic!" It's for the moment when a little boy starts yelling obscenities he learned from his family and bursts out the door, making a dash to get off school property. It's for the moment when a high school underclassman is forced to deal with a friend's suicide attempt, and has to make the decision as to how to react.
It's for those moments when God uses someone to be part of the healing process for a broken person in a broken system, and provide hope for even one person.
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