While I'm posting about my educational journey, both as a student and a teacher, I would be missing out if I didn't blog about what happened yesterday, because it is so very very relevant to what I've been blogging about the last couple of weeks.
Yesterday was our first day back to school after 2 weeks of Christmas break. Some people might not miss their jobs when they're gone. I do. Tremendously. It's lovely to be home and not have to get up and to chase my daughters around my house. But after awhile I start missing my students. I was thrilled to see them yesterday and was excited to share with them some encouragement from a book I'd been reading.
I read a short devotional about how God wants us to do hard things. He never promised that life would be easy; He did promise that it would be rewarding if we look for the right rewards. In the devotional, we were challenged to understand that anything worth having was worth working for. It seemed like the kids were into it.
As I dismissed my homeroom, one of my students came up to me, eyes all aglow.
"Mrs. Cooper! My brother's fiance gave me that book for Christmas! The SAME one! I love it!"
We spent a minute or two chatting about the book. I told her the story of how I came to know it (someone had given it to me originally for my baptism, since then I've gone through two copies and given away many more) and why I love it. She smiled and said that she couldn't wait to read it everyday. And went to class.
It was a community moment. A moment upon which I can now continue to build a relationship with her.
C.S. Lewis, in The Four Loves, writes one of my favorite stories. Lewis writes of how we come to know and love others. When we find things in common, our passions become shared, they become greater, and our hearts become linked. It is as though when we meet another who is like us, we say, "What? You, too? I thought I was the only one!" We find someone who is walking with us. This is how community is formed. How many, "What? You, too? I thought I was the only one!" moments have you had in your life? Have you looked for them? I know that in my students I often see myself and when I share that with them we almost always have a, "What? You, too? I thought I was the only one!" moment and from that moment forth, a new relationship is born.
Community matters.
Yesterday was our first day back to school after 2 weeks of Christmas break. Some people might not miss their jobs when they're gone. I do. Tremendously. It's lovely to be home and not have to get up and to chase my daughters around my house. But after awhile I start missing my students. I was thrilled to see them yesterday and was excited to share with them some encouragement from a book I'd been reading.
I read a short devotional about how God wants us to do hard things. He never promised that life would be easy; He did promise that it would be rewarding if we look for the right rewards. In the devotional, we were challenged to understand that anything worth having was worth working for. It seemed like the kids were into it.
As I dismissed my homeroom, one of my students came up to me, eyes all aglow.
"Mrs. Cooper! My brother's fiance gave me that book for Christmas! The SAME one! I love it!"
We spent a minute or two chatting about the book. I told her the story of how I came to know it (someone had given it to me originally for my baptism, since then I've gone through two copies and given away many more) and why I love it. She smiled and said that she couldn't wait to read it everyday. And went to class.
It was a community moment. A moment upon which I can now continue to build a relationship with her.
C.S. Lewis, in The Four Loves, writes one of my favorite stories. Lewis writes of how we come to know and love others. When we find things in common, our passions become shared, they become greater, and our hearts become linked. It is as though when we meet another who is like us, we say, "What? You, too? I thought I was the only one!" We find someone who is walking with us. This is how community is formed. How many, "What? You, too? I thought I was the only one!" moments have you had in your life? Have you looked for them? I know that in my students I often see myself and when I share that with them we almost always have a, "What? You, too? I thought I was the only one!" moment and from that moment forth, a new relationship is born.
Community matters.
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