My brain is the type that never turns off, not even when I'm exhausted and desperately willing it to just shut up for ten seconds so I can drop off to sleep. I can lie awake for hours going over what happened that day, what's going to happen the next day, or some thing or other I wish I'd done differently. During the day, as I work out whatever's going on around me, I have a steady soundtrack of music going, which is great if it's good music, but is absolute murder if I get, say, Hey Paula stuck on a loop.
With all this rumination, it comes as no surprise that I often think about work. If you've read my past blogs, or see me on at least an intermittent basis, you know I've been working as a part-time substitute teacher after one year of working as a fifth grade teacher. My reasons for going part-time were based on strong feelings of shortchanging my children, my husband, and my home: all of which I felt needed to be my priority.
I still feel that way, and I know my prayerful decision was the right one. Yet, the "Educator" mindset has never left. I spend quite a lot of time on websites like Pinterest, looking for things to use in the classroom, and better ways to teach each subject. I look for ways to integrate technology into the classroom, and literature and projects to make History come alive.
On top of that, there are positions at my school that are opening up; full time positions teaching a variety of grades, all students I have come to know and love as a substitute teacher. I see friends applying for these jobs and...
I'm jealous.
A little voice in my head says, "It's been a year. Your kids are older. You know what to expect now. Just jump back into teaching!" And I want to listen to that voice SO badly. Teaching is, without question, my calling.
But then I remember the incredible amounts of time I put into it last year. I think about the changes I saw in my own children as they felt they had to compete with my thirty-eight students for my attention. I remember how tense I was all the time, and how kind and patient my husband had to be just to attempt to get me to relax. And I think about the changes that have come in our district, just in the past year, and how I gave a little sigh of relief that I wouldn't have to jump through all the extra hoops I've seen my colleagues struggling with this year.
And this...
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Difficult as it is, I need to set aside my desire to go back now, and be patient to see how things progress in God's timing. I can't help but think of Sarah, and how she messed things up by insisting Abraham have a child with Hagar - all because she couldn't stand to wait for God any longer. I need to trust that God will show me exactly when He wants me to go back to teaching and, based the promise in the verse above, I trust that He will keep me from feeling overwhelmed and anxious. He keeps His promises.
1 comment:
And too, I've always had to be especially aware of decisions that were not fully but even a little bit based on jealousy of any sort. Because that right there tells me it's not of Him. But I do understand how your feeling friend!
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