Things you hear in school

Well, today was my first day back at school. I am spending a year as an Americorps Reading Tutor in an elementary school. Today I shadowed this awesome teacher. I already knew some of the huge difficulties teachers face but I saw some for real today. Like teachers have to buy their own paper for the copy machine (they get like 2 reams a month but photocopy homework every day for 17-20 kids!). Then I waited in line for 45 minutes to use the copy machine.
The teacher I shadowed today was a paragon of patience. She used her quiet voice and taught kids how to behave with her own actions. When she was frustrated she said, "Ok, I am sad and I am going to take a minute to calm down." She waited a minute or so and all the kids calmed down too, then she repeated her directions. One of the reasons I don't want to be a teacher is I have not mastered this patience yet (I am working on it). The teacher explained it to me later. She had read this book (I don't remember the title but can find out if you want it) about modeling behavior and responding to chaos rather than reacting to chaos. It made me think of Jesus' philosophy of teaching. He listened and cared for people whether it was one or a multitude. I mean people often came running to him in a panic telling him how so and so was sick or dying. The Bible doesn't say, "And Jesus was concerned, started barking out orders to his followers and ran to the scene, then yelled some special prayer and miraculously fixed the problem, then patted himself on the back." No most of the time Jesus was calm, soft-spoken or no spoken. Sometimes he just touched a person, some times he just listened. He always met the persons need in the situation.
Anyway, the opposite of this was one thing I did hear in school today when another teacher understandably lost her patience, "You know you are not supposed to do that! When we get back to the room you move your monkey down!" I covered my mouth so the children would not see me laughing. It reminded me of something I should have learned in Kindergarten: I should work every day to have the right attitude so my monkey, or smiley face, or whatever is up. So, where's your monkey today? If you have to move it down go spend some time with the Savior, he'll teach you how to keep it high!

Dawn and Dishes

I have experienced my first Hurricane. Now, to be fair it's tropical depression Hanna but it has caused me to reflect. I knew it was coming, the news has been telling us for days. High School football games were played one night earlier in anticipation. But as the clouds rolled in, the sky darkened, and the rain came pouring down, I felt like the weather, a tropical depression. I felt stuck in the house. My dog was going crazy. My husband is sick. There was no sunshine in my life. But I forced myself through this blue period by filling the time with house cleaning. This can be an endless task. So I felt bombarded with Mt. Washmore (laundry) and fed up with dishpan hands. I felt like there was no sunshine in my life, everything felt bland and dreary, like the weather outside.


Then I looked at the dish soap, "Dawn" and it dawned on me that I had forgotten about God today. I hadn't called him (pray), spent time with him (Bible study), or thanked him. So I began saying thank you, thank you for this house, thank you for the rain, thank you for a crazy dog as I washed the dishes. I would like to say the clouds broke and the sun came out, but it didn't. Slowly but surely I felt better, like putting on a clean shirt. I felt peace. Finally the rain stopped for a moment and I ran outside with my dog for a walk. But really it was a walk and talk with my Jesus. I sang praise songs with my ipod, felt the hurricane winds in my hair, and felt my blood moving around my body. I had a moment with the Holy Spirit. I realized the Spirit is always here waiting on me and I can worship during the most mundane tasks. I went back to finish the dishes thinking about this "Dawn" moment and just as my soap ran out I reached under the sink for another bottle and guess what I found "Joy."