From One Teacher to Another

Pre-teen boys.

Just those words alone bring heinous thoughts of funky smells, awkward limbs, and acne issues. As much as they have going for them, this should not be the time in their lives to experiment with contact lenses. Glasses are better. Period.

Apparently, my kindergarten teacher personality has allowed me to be unofficially elected as the official optometrist office contact lens teacher. I have gone from teaching music to sweet children who bring me flowers and treasures, to convincing pre-teen boys and old men that it is indeed okay to touch their eyeballs.

If only I had a coin for every male who said, "You mean I'm supposed to touch my eye? I can't do that....it's.....it's....just so DISGUSTING." (Insert gagging noises here.)

Is there really a nice way to say, "WHERE DO YOU THINK CONTACT LENSES ARE SUPPOSED TO GO?" I'm still working on my delivery....

We had one particular kid a few weeks back who cried, pushed me away, and kept screaming, "It hurts!!" anytime I came within two feet of him. He was 12, I actually never even got close enough to touch his eye, and this lasted for 45 minutes....cutting short my cherished lunch hour. The fact that they didn't have to take me directly to the looney bin is remarkable.

As I stewed over his behavior during my (short) lunch, these words came to mind:

"How often do you treat Me the same way?"

Well that's just a little harsh, don't you think, Lord? This kid was nothing like me - he was whiny and moaned and groaned and shoved me away, and all I was trying to do was something nice for him.

Oh.

Sandbags

Today, my youngest student suddenly looks at me and says, "Thand in my thue." [Translation: Sand in my shoe.] Then he starts working on the velcro.

I quickly convince him that's a bad idea.

So he walks over to the trash can and sits down next to it. "Now can I take my thue off and thake the thand out in there?" At this point the hallelujahs are exclaiming in my head as I realize preschool really does teach extraordinarily valuable things, like don't pick your nose, always use the magic soap (aka hand sanitizer), and don't take your sandy shoes off on the carpet.

Meanwhile, he takes off his shoe and carefully holds it over the trash can.

The sand falls....

and falls....

and falls....

for MINUTES.

An entire sandbox empties into the trash can. I'm not kidding.

How was I supposed to know when he arrived that his shoe had enough sand in it to replenish the entire North Carolina coast line? He wasn't even walking funny.

How many of us walk around with "sandbags" in our life...burdens and insecurities that weigh us down, make us uncomfortable, and slow our progress? But we don't let anyone help us with those burdens and insecurities....not even God. We keep them to ourselves, hiding them in a myriad of ways and hoping that no one will ever see the real us.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by godly friends and family, let us throw off the burdens and insecurities and sins that are too heavy for us to carry on our own, and run the race of life freely! (Hebrews 12:1 - paraphrased by Whimsical Tulips)
Take some time this week to evaluate whether you are hiding some sandbags in your life. What's weighing you down? What keeps you from being all you can be? Find a godly friend to share it with. Suddenly, the burden is much lighter when it's shared. What we hide in the dark is often set free when exposed to the light.

The Wisdom of the Young

Last week, one of the kindergarteners came in for her lesson. She is a vivacious, bubbly little thing and always FULL of energy.

The room that I teach in is the middle school Social Studies room, so there are always a lot of posters and student work to look at on the walls.

About halfway through this little girl's lesson, she points up at a poster and says, "Is that you?" I took a long breath and then calmly replied, "Are you KIDDING me?"

The poster was of a refugee woman from World War II with this worn, sad look on her face and three tattered and torn children around her.

Russ kindly told me (after we both cried we laughed so hard) to not take it personally because five-year-olds have not had a lot of life experience yet and that limits their ability to discern things.

I hope he's right...or I need to consider some plastic surgery...

Hope you have a super day! And beware of the 5-year-olds...