If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, I’m still
alive! ;) Life has been absolutely swamped since about
mid-Jan. I ended up taking a long-term
substitute teaching job at our area high school in the English Department in
Feb. and Mar. where I had the opportunity to teach 10th and 11th
graders for six weeks. About two weeks
before it started and for about two weeks after it ended, I was immersed in
pre- and –post work related to that position.
It was very intense and added a lot of insight into the world of
fulltime teachers. Each one of them
deserves an award for the HOURS of work, both at school and after hours, that
they put in to educate our children.
After my long-term job ended, it took me close to three weeks to “catch”
up or for life to return to “normal”. At
the present moment, I’m finishing up my third year as a MOPS (Mothers of
Preschoolers) Coordinator and then anticipating summer vacation. Trust me – it can’t come soon enough!
As a result of that long-term sub job and the other
commitments I’ve had this school-year, I haven’t been able to post on my blog
as much as I normally would have. My
writing itch has been, well, itching and I can’t hold off any longer!
Since it’s been so long, I had to make the big decision of
what I would write about after so many months of not posting. I have several topics I plan on writing about,
so you can look forward to those in the future.
The other night, our sweet
seven-year old girl, came to us at bedtime.
She had already been out at least five times. You know the nights… All you want to do is let your mind go blank
and veg out on the couch and your dear little ones keep coming out with every
excuse possible. “Mommy, I’m thirsty”,
“I need to go potty” {even though they just went ten minutes ago} “I can’t
sleep” “Can you read me another story” and so on. Our daughter has had years of sleeping
issues, so we’re used to drawn-out bedtimes.
This night, however, I could tell something was different. After the fifth time, I finally asked if
something was bothering her. She came
over, knelt down on the floor, and said “Yes” in a soft voice.
She proceeded to tell us that some
of the girls at school were hurting her feelings. { Oh, sweet one, how I could
relate!} As we chatted and worked
through her worries one by one, I could see the weight lifting. After a moment of silence and, as I stroked
her back, she added quietly that she didn’t like being “different”. Hmmm…different… Already we were dealing with the heaviness of
noticing that she wasn’t acting the same way as her other classmates, reading
the same books, watching the same movies, participating in the same
activities. She was different…
Haven’t we all felt different at
one time or another?!
The first weekend in March, I
attended a wonderful conference called “Set Apart”. The conference name speaks directly to the
point I tried to make to our sweet one after her authentic confession. As Christians, we’re SET APART. We’re supposed to be different. We shouldn’t be talking the same way as the
world, acting the same way, doing the same things.
“You are to be holy to
me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set
you apart from the nations to be my own.”
“Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant
for himself…”
“Before I formed you in
the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…”
We are SET APART and CHOSEN
to shine as lights in this dark world!
Instead of feeling ashamed or beaten down, let’s embrace our uniqueness
and bring glory to God! Just like
royalty act a certain way, we are called to act like the chosen sons and
daughters of the King – princes and princesses – that we are!
“But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the
praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Until
next time, God Bless!
Break
of Dawn
