The First Days of School

I keep thinking to myself, what would Michelle Pfeiffer do? What would Hillary Swank do? What would Jesus do?

Today marked the fourth day of school, also the day when 12 hour workdays caught up to me and I came home and fell asleep for two hours. I might have been sleeping with my eyes open because I remember distinctly a period of dreams in which my feet where visible in all of them. HAHA.

On a bright note, as I was driving to school this morning, in the neighborhood that, yes, looks like Mexico, I saw a Chihuahua tearing across the parking lot of a restaurant in the early morning light. He seemed to be on a mission and as he dashed beneath all the Spanish store signs, I couldn't help thinking how fitting the whole thing seemed.

It's 8:44 pm and I need to write ten lesson plans for next week.

About that. Lesson plans. How do you plan for hostility? How do you plan for illiteracy? How do you plan for neglect and attention-seekers and frustration?

Is there a book on that? How not to care too much?

I know one of those... called the Bible, because Jesus has definitely put me in a position where He has to be my strength. He has to be the love coming out of me and the patience and peace when a million things are expected of me, He has to be my energy a lot of the time. I have this vision of Him being a strong tower and Him residing in me and being that so I can be that for others. I knew my job would be teaching English but I had no idea it would be teaching literacy to kids who can already speak the language enough to sass me and seem that they know what they're talking about.

But when you find out that a ninth grader can't use the dictionary because he doesn't know if R comes before or after N, it changes what you thought your job was. And when you ask a group of kids what their goal is and most of them don't answer, and some of the ones that do say to make it through part of high school, it goes way farther than the standardized test scores that have our nation's schools worrying about money.

Again, Jesus has put me in a position which I am entirely incapable for. I don't know if that's the right way to look at things or not, but it's how I see them. I know He's capable though. So I know I'll be fine.

Here is what He is for me (and you) and what He will be for others (through me and you):

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler." ~Psalm 91:1-6