Lessons on Life

This week has been so busy. I've been at school trying to get my room ready for the year, the kids have been attending VBS at our "old" church, Clarissa has had doctor's appointments, and then there was just "life" to contend with. However, through it all, God found (as He always does) those moments to teach me something. Here are a few of the lessons I learned this week.

1. While working in my classroom I had a knock at the door, it was one of my former students. Wow! He now towers over me, his voice is MUCH deeper and he told me that he'd be going into the 8th grade this year. As we talked, I reminded him of how he got angry with me one day and told me he hated my class. He refused that he had ever said that and then proceeded to tell me that he would have never said that because my class was his favorite so far in his school career. Wow! That meant alot to me to hear. Lesson - Just when I was dreading the school year, God brought a kid that I haven't seen in at least a year and a half, to say some very powerful words. It made me realize that I do make a difference and that God does have a plan for me there!
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2. The kids and I went to lunch one day this week at one of our favorite places, a local Japanese steakhouse. They wre getting close to closing for the afternoon and a young man was going around cleaning all of the grills. He came to ours to clean (while we were still eating) and it bothered me a bit but I didn't say anything. I was putting my food and Jonathon's in a "to go" box and Clarissa was still eating. THEN, I looked up to see him SPRAYING a cleaner onto the grill! That was too much for me so I said "Sir, could you please not do that while my daughter is eating" - There was silence........by him and by my kids............everyone just sat and waited for an answer........finally he said (with a roll of his eyes), OK. And went back to scrubbing the grill. GRRRRrrrrrr, I really wanted him to stop cleaning while we were there! Clarissa quickly said she was done and we were on our way. We got into the car and Jonathon said, "MOM, I can't believe you said that to him!" So, I spent the next five minutes trying to explain to Jonathon that when a Mother feels something is wrong and could harm one of her children, it is her JOB to speak up. I told him it was my job to protect my kids. He didn't care as much about me protecting him as he did that I had embarrassed him! Lesson - These preteen and teenage years are going to be fun.......I'll be protecting and he'll be humiliated! However, he did tell me he was glad that I was always looking out for them!

3. Last night Clarissa was praying before she went to bed and I heard her say, ".....and please help my Mom to stay around because I love her so much." She continued praying and I heard her say, "......that would be cool God". Lesson - It's nice to know that someone wants you around and that they actually PRAY for it and that God is the God of yesterday, tomorrow, and TODAY because I know that he understands what she means by "cool". There are too many people that try to use "proper prayer language" and it was so sweet to hear her just talking to God!

So, those were my lessons for the week, or at least the ones that stuck out the most! Look around, there's always someone or something to learn from!