Let brotherly love continue.
Do not neglect hospitality,
for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.
Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment,
and of the ill-treated as of yourselves,
for you also are in the body.
Let marriage be honored among all
and the marriage bed be kept undefiled,
for God will judge the immoral and adulterers.
Let your life be free from love of money
but be content with what you have,
for he has said, I will never forsake you or abandon you.
Thus we may say with confidence:
The Lord is my helper,
and I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?
Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you.
Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever
Oh my, where shall I begin?! The beginning I suppose...I feel as if every moment of my day where I become frustrated with the same 5 or 6 students I have to with conscious effort sink into the depths of my soul where Christ is saying "look through their lack of effort, their disrespect, their refusals to follow reasonable requests...look past those things to see the child inside." I admit, sometimes upon doing this I've caught myself shaking my head with a sorrowful look on my face in expression of my sympathy for them. I suppose this ties into the end of this passage too where it says "be content with what you have (the Lord) will never forsake or abandon you." I have spent many days of the last 6 months worrying about my job situation, feeling ashamed to have two hard-earned degrees and just be...subbing. I have been frustrated and even agry at times. It has just been over the last month and a half that I have really seen that being patient and having faith in what God has been putting in front of me always pays off...perhaps not in the way I might expect...but there are always days taht remind me of this. Which brings me to today. If it weren't for this rocky roller coaster that I have been on this year I would not have the unique privilege of teaching 5th grade (albeit social studies) at my elementary right now. Even though at first it seemed undesirable I have had so many moments where I have realized how God needs me here (and I need to be here) at this time. I have a student with some learning and behavior struggles in one of my classes. He doesn't put forth any effort, goofs off in class and is sometimes disrespectful. (The usuals). However, my mom just so happens to have him in class once a week for PE and says he is one of her favorite students. So we decided to team up in order to try and impact him and I took an unfinished assignment from yesterday to him during PE class today. She told me that if he had to do it during PE he would realize that is not a privilege he would want to miss out on again. So when we called him aside she had him show me his wrestling scores and his 1st palce ribbons from his wrestling match. Then I spoke (perhaps first out of frustration and then out of compassion) to him about how if he doesn't put forth effort in the classroom he won't be able to do what he loves (sports) in middle and high school. Well, it was right then that the tears came flowing. As we finished up the conversation and my mom hugged him and moments later told me that is how you have to impact children I was flooded with emtion. Humbled by how Christ clearly works through my mother each days as an educator, knowing that this is surely not the first student she has shown such genuine compassion for in her years. So here I sit, realizing that without patience and above all HUMILITY we can never truly understand what it means to trust God and entertain angels. We are merely pencils in his hand...and we can't get caught being dull.
ReplyDeleteIt’s funny how when times can get so difficult, God reveals Himself to me and lets me know that everything is going to be okay. This passage is EXACTLY what I needed to see when I woke up today. Those lines…
ReplyDelete“I will never forsake you or abandon you…The Lord is my helper and I will not be afraid. What can anyonen do to me?...Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
There’s so much comfort in those lines, almost as if my soul just took a deep breath in, exhaled out slowly, and said, “Yeah. Things are going to be okay.” It’s interesting money is mentioned, because growing up my family never had much. My parents worked INCREDIBLY hard and we struggled…I still remember the sacrifices my mom, dad, and I had to do in order to make due. While we are going better now, I think growing up in that process has always made me hyper-aware of money and it’s ability to control and take over. While it’s not a constant stressor in my life as much as it was in the past, reading this is a beautiful reminder that God centralizes and takes care of me, not a paycheck or how much is in the bank account.
However, when I initially read this passage, the first thing I thought of was my relationship. This week has been particularly hard for me, knowing that what is affecting someone I care so much about is something I cannot change. Things are literally out of my hands…and the feelings that come in knowing that you are powerless to change something is crippling, not to mention frustrating beyond belief. It’s even more painful when you see that change occur slowly but surely, that you can almost SEE the air around a person take on a different tone even though you’re not there physically with them. In light of that, I used to always (and still do, which I’m working on) let it fester in me and try to think of ways to make the situation better…which is impossible, because it wasn’t my place to change it at all. Not to mention that fact that it made and still makes me upset, complacent, scared, and wanting to give up all at the same time. God placed this struggle in my life for a reason, and what I need to work on is placing my faith in HIM that He’s got a plan and I just need to give up control and let Him do His thing. To say we trust God is one thing…to actually live that out, especially for me in this case, is completely different. But it is something that is necessary, and I know once I reach that peace and trust that this massive weight on my shoulders will seem nothing but a feather.
Another great thing…I subscribe to certain people on Youtube so I get video updates. This passage was the first thing I saw today. This video was the second.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hr7LkJSTnQ&feature=feedu
Lyrics:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
The lyrics hit me particularly hard in the heart and soul…you know those times when you feel so incredibly down, and God gives you reminders that He’s got your back? Yeah. I have no doubt that this is one of those times. It feels so, so good to believe.
*side note: I was selective about today's passage. Usually I post the gospel reading of the day but today's was about the beheading of John the Baptist and just didn't appeal to me at all. I decided that today's first reading, from Hebrews, provoked more emotional thought rather than intellectual (which is what the other lent itself toward) and I thought it was more appropriate for today. :)
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