An Encouragement For Teachers

This has been a difficult year of motherhood for me. I’ve found myself in uncharted waters more often than I am comfortable, shepherding my girls through new phases and stages. We are also busier than ever with work, activities, appointments and travel times often overlapping and leaving us running late to everything. It seems that one kid is always melting down about something or using the moments when we are rushing to get somewhere to stop and block the doorway so they can give me a manifesto about whatever injustice my parenting has caused them to suffer this time. I constantly find myself biting my tongue in frustration as I think, “Are you *bleeping* kidding me with this right now??“

One of the hardest parts of parenting/caregiving, whether alone or with a partner, is helplessly watching your time continue to stretch thinner and thinner. I often get the unsolicited advice to “be sure to take care of yourself first.” I want to scream back at these people, “When?!” I already shave enough hours from my already limited time and lack of sleep just to keep the ship afloat.

This has been a season of survival mode for me and I’ve had to live in the discomfort of completing everything at the last minute, focusing only on tackling the tasks that require my immediate attention and still falling behind schedule. As we are all overbooked, sleep deprived, and looking forward to the end of the school year, I wanted to share an encouragement with everyone that time spent with the Lord is never wasted. I’ve noticed in my own life that when I am my busiest or expected to be in multiple places at the same time, it is whenever I pause in prayer or to ruminate on scripture that I can be miraculously productive. 

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:8-9

God tells Joshua in the scriptures to meditate on His word day and night. We are still called to engage with God’s word on a daily basis-not so that we can be loaded down with one more thing on our to do lists, but so that we can be prosperous and successful. God tells us to meditate on His word for our own benefit. As teachers, we are in the midst of preparing our last few weeks of lesson plans with award ceremonies, field days, and all kinds of special programs thrown into the chaos. We are busy working to be sure we covered everything on the curriculum, prep our students for final exams and complete the never ending list of end of year requirements. Our time is limited, but I want to encourage everyone to not forget the importance of slowing down and spending time with the Lord in our personal lives and in our classrooms. 

We only have a few weeks left with the students that we have spent an entire school year cultivating relationships with. While we might all be counting down the days until summer vacation, this is the time when they are really listening to us. Some of our kids have taken this long to come out of their shells and just now feel comfortable opening up and asking the important questions. Now is when we have their attention and need to finish strong. Keeping our focus on God during the busyness is a guarantee that, not only will we get everything done, but we will do so successfully, bringing our students to the finish line with us.

Love, Molly

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