The Fall

The Fall is a special beautiful time of year. It awakens something which had been lulled to sleep in the summer heat. This Fall it has rained for days and days.. something quite odd for Texas. The soothing beat of the rain on my tin roof has kept me company many many nights as I work. Funny thing is that i was sure I wouldn't be working all hours of the night this Fall. I stretched myself beyond words during the summer with the promise that when I graduated, I would take a break. But instead there is a new challenge and I am once again conquering. So here it is 1am and I'm taking a break from a work project. It is good that it is raining.

It is funny how God can explain things through nature. My life is like the tide. There is a constant wave.. ebb and flow... a constant up and down... a monotonous soothing pattern.... Then there is also the high tide and the low tide of each "day". It is amazing to me how the long I live the less worried I get over a little up of down... the more I rise and fall with the rhythm of the wave and do not resist the rhythm. I think the most important thing I can do right now is be very aware of what point of the "tide" I am in. You don't look for shells at high tide... and you don't waste your time building castles at low tide.

Why?

Interestingly my last post was on my last day of school and this is my last day of summer. The summer whizzed by as I am sure yours did as well. This summer was one of growth. I took several classes and they were beyond challenging, but propelled me to a new level professionally. My mother-n-law came to watch the boys for a few weeks. It was the first thing in 9 years the lady did to help me. It was helpful and healing. Not that we are close, but we do now have a place by which to work from. Buddy and I had the best summer ever together with the boys. We did little silly things like going to the park or movies, but they were special family moments. We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary a week after marrying two "kids" from our old youth group.

For the first time in a long long time... I am excited for fall. I want to slow down and embrace each moment.... each moment with Buddy... each moment with the boys... and with life.

Summer Time Fun

Tomorrow is my last day of school!! There is a special feeling on the last day of school even for teachers. I have taught for 6 years now and I feel it with as much excitement now as when I was a student. There is a resiliance.. a life.. a sheer pleasure that sweeps over you as the bell sounds. A feeling of accomplishment.. a thrill of survival. May the bliss overtake me this year!!

I think that is a lot of what God meant with the design of the sabath... there should be hard work and moments you push yourself so hard that you are not sure you will make it... and then there should be summer break.

Were we happier as children because we were younger? Or were we happier because we lived in the ebb and flow of work/sabath, work/sabath? I intend to take this summer and find that rest again. We were all busy as kids. We played all day. But there was a much better balance of what tasks made us busy.
What are you filling your day with?

Watch This

Some days I wonder about my life. Maybe this is a small reason why we all should continue "doing the do" as my friend says.


http://www.makeadifferencemovie.com/full/

Confidence

Recently I walked into a group of teachers and began very timidly to express my ideas for revamping the entire department's instructional strategies. It was a feeble attempt at confidence if I ever saw one. Later that week I walk into a meeting with a much larger group of teachers and began very confidently directing a meeting in which I communicated my expectations and required deadlines for them to adhere to.

The difference????
In the first meeting, I was sharing my ideas with nothing behind me but my opinion. In the second meeting, I was communicating by the request of the principal the directives she wished. Why was I confident? Because if they didn't like it, it wasn't on me. It was backed up by a bigger authority.

If I could just remember that I was acting by the will and pleasure of God, then maybe I would be as confident as I was communicating for my principal.
Sociologists tell us that our self-esteem is based on what we believe the most important person in our life thinks about us.

Confidence is only as good as the one in whom you place your confidence.
Am I confident b/c I am pretty? What if get in a car wreck? Am I confident b/c I am smart? What if I am in a room of PhDs? Am I confident b/c people like me? What about when they stop?
People who are truly confident consistently even when "out matched" are not self-confident but God-confident.

I want to be an Educator

According to a news report, a certain private charter school in SanAntonio was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on inthe bathroom.That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.Every night the maintenance man, an old retired Army Master Sergeant,would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.Finally the principal, who also was a former Army Chief WarrantOfficer, decided that something had to be done. He called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. He explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for theold sergeant whohad to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult ithad been to clean the mirrors, he asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, andcleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.
There are teachers... and then there are educators.

Many of you know... I applied to a Principal Master's Degree program. I will find out if I am selected for the next round of interviews in a couple weeks. I hope I am like this principal!!!