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The Last Day of School

And so it goes.

Today is the last day of school for this school year and what a beautiful, messy, joyful, painful, ambitious year it's been for both teachers and students. What a privilege it has been to be a part of it. And, oh, how I will miss being a part of it here next year.

It's the last day of school and in any year, I think for some it holds unmitigated joy. It's the culmination of a year of work. I look back and see how much our students have grown, what they have learned, and recognize who they've become and I smile and nod to myself because these are the students who finally "got it." Some of the students haven't yet. Some of the students still trudge through each day, hoping the day will end so they can go home. Some students dread coming to school. Not many. But some. I look at these students and wonder if I missed an opportunity. Was it a choice I made or she made? Did I miss an opportunity? Did he? I don't always know the answers to the questions I ask myself. Sometimes I know I messed up. Sometimes I know the student did. But we love and serve a God that forgives our mess ups, and I'm grateful for that.

The end of the school year always calls in me a sense of hope and anticipation. This year isn't much different. But I hope and pray for the students over the summer and this year I get to do that for students I've known and loved for 10 years, and for hundreds of students I have yet to meet. 

I hope that this summer is a productive one. Not in the sense of work, but in a sense of learning. I hope my students learn more about who God wants them to be by actively seeking His face. I hope they learn what it is to rest on purpose and to live on purpose. I hope that they can look back on this school year and say that they tried to live each moment as though they were serving their Father. And if they can't I hope that they try to next year. I hope they love deeply, the real love, the kind that can cause pain and joy at the same time because they allow themselves to be true to themselves, and not true to who anyone else expects them to be. I hope they pray faithfully, to understand what a mighty thing prayer is, and to know that this, above all other things, can guide them. I hope they make some memories where they can see the fingerprint of God among them, because these are the memories that will last them a lifetime. But mostly I hope that they move forward as God calls them, to see what He's called them in this moment and where He's called them in the future. I hope that they answer His call and even if they fear to answer, know that they are following His voice.

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.  2 Corinthians 3:3 

Thanks, Cresset family, for all the memories, love, and life you've poured into me. Above anything else, I am grateful for you.

And so it goes. 




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