Free to Teach What Matters Most

"I don't know how you do it."

Seems like I've been told this about a thousand times! This is often the reaction I get from people in other professions when they find out I'm an elementary teacher. I always laugh at that and tell them I'm never bored. I mean, the stories I have courtesy of my experiences in the classroom are, well- you can't make that stuff up. That's just working with kids, right? But I can't leave it at that;  I immediately launch into my "rewarding calling" explanation because I. LOVE. TEACHING.

There's so much joy and fullfillment in this calling. It's more than a job, it's my mission. It's the way I choose to make a difference in the world and share God's love. I know many of my fellow teachers in the faith have that same desire. And the best part? We don't have to only teach in a Christian school to be able to share what matters most with our students.

A few times I've heard comments from Christian friends wondering how I can teach in a public school without feeling limited or censored in my faith. If you approach it from a deficit mindset about what you can't do or say, I suppose it could feel very restrictive. I choose to view it from the perspective of what I am free to do and how I can creatively seek out ways to share the abundant life with my students and colleagues. That mindset leads me to embrace specific opportunites to carry out my mission to impact others on a daily basis. Here are just a few of those freedoms I'm privileged to share:

1) Free to show acceptance
Throughout the entire school year we have a chance to cultivate the spirit of acceptance of others as we build community in the classroom. By constantly valuing the role each student has as a learner and contributor and by encouraging empathy, we are living out the example of what it means to an integral part of Christ's kingdom. He accepts us as we are and we belong to Him. This belonging and connectedness is a powerful need we all share and our Father delights in seeing this fulfilled as we lead our students in cooperating, collaborating, serving one another, and treating others as we would like to be treated. Each class member is accepted- just as we have experienced the ultimate acceptance as heirs with Christ.

2) Free to extend grace and mercy
How many times have I needed Jesus to wipe the slate clean so I could start over? Too many to count. As His followers, we rejoice in His mercies being new each day. As teachers, we have the opportunity to extend grace to our students each day. Kids are going to make mistakes. They are going to misbehave. They are going to make poor choices (just as we all do).  We get to communicate the power of the grace and mercy of God's love when we let them have a clean slate each morning. Because of our forgiveness experience, we know how to let go of grudges. To allow our students to learn from their mistakes. To show them that while we may not be able to save them from natural consequences, we can love them unconditionally and offer second chances because of the beautiful gift of grace showered on us daily by a loving Savior.

3) Free to celebrate our place in His creation
Our students, these special human beings entrusted to our care for nine months of the year, were created by His will and for His glory to worship Him. Each one is uniquely gifted to live a life that praises Jesus. One of the things that excites me the most as a teacher is being on the journey with students as they discover their gifts and abilities. Sometimes kids have challenges that make that discovery hard or become discouraged along the way. They need the person they spend the most waking hours with during the week (that would be their teacher!) to resource them, guide them, hold them accountable, and inspire them to claim their potential. They need to develop their skills and talents and unleash their creativity as they realize how they make this world a better place. God has blessed us to be an influential force in helping them claim their place and purpose in this life- the ultimate worship of pleasing their Creator! What an extreme joy to be part of the discovery journey and celebrate the becoming as they grow.

As Christ followers, we have a deeply embedded desire for our students to experience the peace and love of a life lived for Him. This year, my hope is that we all exercise our freedom to let our daily teaching lives- our routine decisions, our attitudes and mindsets, our words of correction and instruction, our calling-  be the means of translating the love of God for His children and helping them grasp and keep close to their hearts what matters most.

Your Reality Vs. The Highlight Reel

I love it when a plan comes together. (Thank you, John "Hannibal" Smith, for that timeless quote!) I love it when video tutorials come through and I end up achieving what I set out to learn/do. (Changed my oven heating element LIKE A BOSS, thanks to YouTube.) I love perusing Pinterest for my latest inspiration and finding the 'perfect' idea for all of my many interests. I have 122 boards. (Don't ask me how I have that many interests. I would need several lifetimes to incorporate them all.) It might considered overkill, but I can't bring myself to delete any of them.  Three of my boards pertain to hair.  You know...coloring, cutting, and styling because... well... HAIR! I usually make my theme party boards 'secret' ones so that guests will be surprised at the fan-freaking-tastic details that become part of the celebration. (See above 'plan comes together' reference.)

Every so often though, I get reminded that, as much as I love Pinterest, and YouTube videos, and Facebook, and Twitter {insert everything else taking up memory space on your smartphone here}, the apps/social media that I engage in to inform my decisions/plans/views are just short snippets of everyone's highlight reel and not the entire reality of life as it exists.

For example, have you ever looked at other people's family portraits and thought: "How come my family never looks like that when we get our picture taken?"  Answer: "Because they posted the one photo out of 357 takes that qualified as pin worthy".  (Pin worthy is a thing. I looked it up because I was hoping I just made up an awesome new phrase to be my blog's claim to fame, but someone already did, so never mind.) In my efforts to keep reality alive (I'm nothing if not authentic) and prove a point, I give to you "Edinger Boys and Cousins Photo Shoot 2017".

Disclaimer: I like to think that since I've been involved in family portraits with children since the year 2000, I have good advice to give them, i.e. "Pretend that you like each other and smile naturally". But we all know good advice is rarely followed the first time, right? When that little tip is ignored, I move on to bribes. "If everyone can just please smile and stay in position, we'll have ice cream when we're all done. Maybe the best smilemaker will get a lifetime supply of cookie dough!" By the end though I've unfortunately lost all semblance of patience and have resorted to threats. "You guys need to do this right or you're grounded for the rest of your life." If that doesn't work, I pull out the deadly Mom Guilt Trip (which I'm not proud of, but it has helped get us through several difficult photo shoots, so WHATEVER)... "I can't believe after everything I do for you, all of the sick nights I worried over you, all of the poopy diapers and pukey clothes I've changed for you... to say nothing of entering the VALLEY OF DEATH to give birth to you...the least you could do is let me have this ONE moment of cooperation, literally ONE photo where you all look at the camera at the same time. Consider it a dying wish, only without the death bed." (I might employ a bit of drama- it's all good).

The reality is there are lots of bloopers before the highlight reel. Good thing these boys and their cousins are so cute. Even the bloopers can be precious, if we don't take it too seriously.

The white shirt was supposed to contrast with the lollipop, not blend in. Blue chins for days.

In his defense, the instructions were "Hold your lollipop down  so it doesn't cover your face." Toddlers can be so literal sometimes.

Somehow "pose with your lollipop" translated to "pretend you are an alien visiting earth and you've never seen a lollipop before".

Aaaannnd we never did get a good one
with the candy props. This pic never
saw the light of the social media post until now.

For realz, I laugh out loud every time I see this one. The goal was to straddle the log and lean heads out alternating left and right directions so we could see each face. Logan didn't quite have his balance, but Henry is hanging on to him for dear life, because he's not going down like that! Everyone else is watching the action, too distracted to pose.

Never did get a good one of these either...
he gone!

Finally! Pin worthiness! Our standard went from 'let's have epic props/pose' to 'let's just get them together with eyes open and pleasant expressions'. #winning

I share this because as much as I love Pinterest perfection, I love real life more. I love my tribe. I love that we can laugh about a photo shoot gone sideways and still make memories out of it. I mean, the plan came together...eventually. Who says it has to be a perfectly executed Plan A for it to be a success? Not me! I've learned there are lots of other letters in the alphabet and sometimes we use up quite a few before we land on the one that works the best (my favorite picture was probably Plan W!) Creating your own joy in your reality leaves you satisfied in a way that comparing to others' highlight reels never will. You create the joy that makes your life better.