23 Gifts

I’m giddy.  Wanna know why?

I know the names of 23 children that will be spending the next 10 months in my classroom, starting tomorrow.  23 hearts – tiny people – made in the image of God, ready to learn all the grand things we learn in 3^rd grade.  Multiplication, making a generalization, evaporation, the Constitution…the list goes on and on.

They don’t know me, and I don’t know them.  And our journey begins. 

We’ll all be timid at first, but as the ball gets rolling, we’ll quickly settle into the rhythm of 3^rd grade.  We’ll get excited about learning, and we’ll get bored with learning.  We’ll squeal with excitement at the start of a science experiment, and we’ll let out exasperated sighs when asked to get our grammar books out (teacher included, sometimes).  We’ll laugh together, pray together, and struggle together as we learn math and spelling and history.

What a beautiful privilege it is to serve the Lord in this way.  What a beautiful privilege to be used as His instrument.  In the excitement and chaos of the beginning of the year, I don’t want to lose sight of my job description.  Teaching, yes.  But before I’m a teacher, I’m a child of the living God.  Which means I have a much more important and beautiful job to do.

I get to proclaim His excellencies to these 23 children. 

Every day. 

I get to tell these 23 about Jesus.  I get to talk to them about the One I love and how He loved me first.  About how He brought me out of darkness and into His marvelous light.  About how He can do the same for them, because He came, lived, died, and rose again to save sinners.

So when there is conflict, I get to point them to Him.  When my students get frustrated with math, I get to point them to Him.  When I lose my patience and have to apologize, I get to point them to Him.  When we celebrate victories and identify strengths, I get to point them to Him.  In all things, I get to point them to Him.

By His grace, I’ll do my job.  I’ll keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfector of my faith. 

He’s given me this job to do within the context of teaching.  Which I love.  So will we learn math?  Yes.  Reading?  Absolutely.  And we’ll have a blast doing it!  Well, at least I will…

But if I lose sight of the reason I’m there, somebody please remind me.   God has given me 23 gifts to love with His love this year.  To Him be the glory.