Now I know I have not written a blog in a while, but I was particularly inspired to write this message in the shower this afternoon. I know, the shower of all places! Well, God speaks to us all the time regardless of our location.
As I grow through life I have discovered that there are all kinds of people in this world. When we grow up we begin to learn the best ways to deal with different types of people. It is something that I deal with as a teacher everyday, trying to teach young people to see different perspectives and ways to deal with others who are very different from them. However, I have also learned that there are some people who, no matter your command of social skills, you cannot deal with. Now God has been teaching me lately that it is with these people that we can no longer depend on our own social abilities but we have to depend on Him for the wisdom to maneuver those relationships. Sometimes certain people require the absolute grace of Jesus and without that the relationship, (no matter the kind), would just explode in destruction. No matter how much I know now, God continues to teach me day after day, and I continue to need Him more and more for everyday things (such as relationships). Some days I have to ask God simply for the words that I should be speaking. I am truly helpless without Him, and I know this: God is ALWAYS faithful. He will see us through difficult relationship. He will see us through tough times. He will see us through any circumstance that comes our way. We just have to humble and cling to Him: OUR ROCK.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Monday, 9 November 2009
Better Late than Never
Okay so I admit I wrote this blog a few weeks ago, but have not had a chance to get the blog uploaded to the internet. Thus I am uploading it late! Sorry.
So this blog has been mulling in my mind for a few afternoons and it is time to put it down.
There are days where your strength absolutely comes from God. (Not that you can ever do anything on your own). Instead I simply mean that there are days where you cannot even consciously or unconsciously bring yourself to complete all the things that need done in a day. You feel like you don’t have the energy to lift your head off the pillow much less complete a day of demanding work, to come home and then end the day with everyday life’s work. It is these days that are good for us. They remind us at the end of the day that without God we would never make it. We know that it was God who had brought us through another day, even successfully completing all the things that needed done. It was only with God’s strength that we made it through the day. It is this kind of a day that makes us more grateful on the other days. When we feel like we have the energy and the strength then we can remember to praise God for getting us through the exhausted and the non-exhausted days. Truly these days remind us that we have to rely on God EVERYDAY!!
I guess this comes to my mind as I have begun the normal work routine again after a week of vacation. Not that this week was bad at all. It is more of a sleep schedule adjustment. Actually, there was one day this week that really reminded me of why I am a teacher. I also realized how important my job is as the only American teacher at Rainbow.
So I am reading “Holes” with my students. If you have not read the book the following may not make much sense. However, the gist of it is this: at one point in the book there is a white schoolteacher in Texas who falls in love with a black onion picker over 100 years ago. The townspeople kill the man after they find out, and the schoolteacher becomes an outlaw. I came to the part in the story that talks about how the onion picker could not go to school because he was a Negro. As I read it I watched my children to see if they understood what I was saying. I realized they had no idea what a Negro was and so I stopped and asked them. Basically it spurred an impromptu American history lesson about slavery, post-slavery and the fight for civil rights. It was tremendously interesting discussing this with my students as the only American in the room. Most of my students concluded that they were glad that both they and I were born now instead of 100 years ago. They felt that at least life is fairer now, and they also pointed out that my marriage is accepted now.
As far as the importance of being an American teacher, I can use my background as an American to help them understand the context of the story. I was also amazed by how little they knew about the slavery and civil rights movement in the U.S. But it makes sense because of the British influence here. Most of them did not realize that at one time in America black and white people legally could not have access to the same things.
Now when I think about it I realize how far we have come as a country. Yet at the same time I can see how much more we have to go. It is sad to sit there telling the students about how things have changed but to truly know in my heart that there is still so much unfairness that exists. I would love to say, “And now racism is not a problem in America. Everything is fair and nice. There are no problems based on race or prejudice.” Yet I can’t do that. At the same time I have thus far avoided discussing the current situation except for Obama (of course). I cannot bring myself to try to explain the intricacies of institutional racism that still exists in America, (and the other types as well). However, there will come a day when they will learn. The knowledge they are acquiring now will only lead them to understand why it is still here and where it came from.
So this blog has been mulling in my mind for a few afternoons and it is time to put it down.
There are days where your strength absolutely comes from God. (Not that you can ever do anything on your own). Instead I simply mean that there are days where you cannot even consciously or unconsciously bring yourself to complete all the things that need done in a day. You feel like you don’t have the energy to lift your head off the pillow much less complete a day of demanding work, to come home and then end the day with everyday life’s work. It is these days that are good for us. They remind us at the end of the day that without God we would never make it. We know that it was God who had brought us through another day, even successfully completing all the things that needed done. It was only with God’s strength that we made it through the day. It is this kind of a day that makes us more grateful on the other days. When we feel like we have the energy and the strength then we can remember to praise God for getting us through the exhausted and the non-exhausted days. Truly these days remind us that we have to rely on God EVERYDAY!!
I guess this comes to my mind as I have begun the normal work routine again after a week of vacation. Not that this week was bad at all. It is more of a sleep schedule adjustment. Actually, there was one day this week that really reminded me of why I am a teacher. I also realized how important my job is as the only American teacher at Rainbow.
So I am reading “Holes” with my students. If you have not read the book the following may not make much sense. However, the gist of it is this: at one point in the book there is a white schoolteacher in Texas who falls in love with a black onion picker over 100 years ago. The townspeople kill the man after they find out, and the schoolteacher becomes an outlaw. I came to the part in the story that talks about how the onion picker could not go to school because he was a Negro. As I read it I watched my children to see if they understood what I was saying. I realized they had no idea what a Negro was and so I stopped and asked them. Basically it spurred an impromptu American history lesson about slavery, post-slavery and the fight for civil rights. It was tremendously interesting discussing this with my students as the only American in the room. Most of my students concluded that they were glad that both they and I were born now instead of 100 years ago. They felt that at least life is fairer now, and they also pointed out that my marriage is accepted now.
As far as the importance of being an American teacher, I can use my background as an American to help them understand the context of the story. I was also amazed by how little they knew about the slavery and civil rights movement in the U.S. But it makes sense because of the British influence here. Most of them did not realize that at one time in America black and white people legally could not have access to the same things.
Now when I think about it I realize how far we have come as a country. Yet at the same time I can see how much more we have to go. It is sad to sit there telling the students about how things have changed but to truly know in my heart that there is still so much unfairness that exists. I would love to say, “And now racism is not a problem in America. Everything is fair and nice. There are no problems based on race or prejudice.” Yet I can’t do that. At the same time I have thus far avoided discussing the current situation except for Obama (of course). I cannot bring myself to try to explain the intricacies of institutional racism that still exists in America, (and the other types as well). However, there will come a day when they will learn. The knowledge they are acquiring now will only lead them to understand why it is still here and where it came from.
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