You're right, teaching isn't a real job...

I get it. It's summertime and all you're seeing on Facebook or Instagram are teachers taking their families to the lake or the beach for days at a time in the middle of the week. You're seeing teachers in their shorts and flip flops going out to lunch with friends. You're seeing all of the teachers that you know walk around with suntans from spending so much time not working. You can't help but think, "I should have been a teacher. They get paid all summer and they don't even have to work. I bet she doesn't even know what it's like to have a real job." I know you're thinking it. Some people even say it. And you know what? You're right. Teaching isn't a 'real' job.

It would be a grosse understatement to call what teachers do every day a 'job.' What we do is so much more than a job.

It's so much more than a career. 

Teaching is a calling. It's a gift. 

There is no way to 'turn it off.' Don't believe me? Spend a few minutes in the company of a couple of teachers; our conversations will turn to bulletin boards and interactive notebooks so fast that your head will spin. While our family and friends think we're relaxing on the beach we're really surreptitiously pinning ideas for Word Walls and Agenda Boards. We work weeks into the summer, and we mentally and physically start back to work weeks before we're actually required to do so. 

We spend hundreds of our own hard earned dollars to get our classrooms ready for the next school year. And, contrary to popular belief, getting paid through summer and getting paid for summer are two totally different things. We're only paid for the days that we're required to be at school, so all of those hours spent working on our classrooms and reworking the curriculum during the summer are unpaid hours. You won't find many 'real jobs' where employees willingly work without compensation. 

We spend late summer nights painting foam board for our new Word Wall idea. 

We use our 'free time' to film video lessons for our new flipped classroom. 

We stay up late at night trying to think of new and inventive ways to get students to engage with vocabulary. 

We spend hours in prayer for the students we had last school year and the students we will have next school year. 

And, yes, we do use plenty of days in the middle of all this work to relax with family and friends at the beach. We do take the opportunity to go out to lunch with friends. We do get that suntan when it's finally possible. And do you know why? 

Because we deserve it. 

There I said it. We deserve it. 

I'm not going to take the high road and selflessly proclaim how we teachers love nothing more than to spend our days fueling little fires of knowledge. 

I'm going to tell you that teaching is hard. 

I'm going to tell you that many of us couldn't possibly handle it, physically, emotionally, or mentally, without our 'summers off.' 

I'm going to tell you that most people wouldn't do it for a week before they'd throw in the towel and beg to have their 'real job' back. 

So, go ahead and tell me that teaching isn't a real job. I'll agree with you 100%. 

Teaching isn't a real job.

It's so much more.

1 Peter 4:10

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms.

The poorly equipped disciple

I never thought this blog would end up receiving the number of readers that it has, and I am incredibly grateful and humbled each time I check my blog traffic. I'm a math teacher, not a writer, but you guys are able to look past my lackluster composition and read my messages anyway. When I started this blog I really just wanted to see what all the fuss was about, but as I continued to post I started realizing the ways I could use it as a tool of discipleship. As many of my readers probably know, I recently rededicated myself and my life to the glory of God. If you look at my blog posts in chronological order, you can actually see me grow as a writer and a Christian. 

At first I thought that praying for my blog was a silly, selfish thing to do, but gradually I began to pray over my words as I wrote them. I started to understand that there is nothing that you shouldn't lay at Jesus' feet in prayer, so I started praying wholeheartedly for guidance, assurance, and direction. For my posts to be filled with the Holy Spirit. For my words to bring glory to God. And for my message to reach people who otherwise may not ever hear the gospel. I have so much growing left to do, but I'm excited about how far this blog has already come. 

I do get discouraged though. The other day I started thinking about what a poorly equipped disciple I truly am. I don't go to church like a should. I'm not in church every time the doors open. I'm not even in church every Sunday morning. I only have an average knowledge of the Bible, and I can't pray aloud without getting tongue tied or drawing a blank and going silent. If I were to debate with an atheist who knows more about the Gospel than me, would I be able to stand my ground? If I were to ask someone whether they knew Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and they replied with a 'no, will you pray with me?', would I be able to get the prayer out? 

I don't know.

What I do know is that these seventy-two of Jesus's disciples were sent out "like lambs among wolves." That sounds hopeless, right? Think about it, a lamb up against a wolf. So these disciples were also poorly equipped. But, they went out anyway and you know what? They came back with joy! They were joyful when they came back explaining that even the demons submit in Jesus's name. Whenever I think about how much more I need to mature as a Christian, I think about this verse:

Luke 10:3

Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

And I know that as I will be joyful as long as I am working in Jesus's name. 

I do understand that I still need to take steps to better equip myself as a disciple, so I am setting goals to keep maturing as a Christian. I want to read the Bible in its entirety. I want to begin attending a discipleship training class regularly. I want to surround myself with like-minded Christians who will help me to mature. There are plenty more, but I'd hate to bore you with the laundry list of ways that I need to better myself.

If you read this blog, will you also pray for it? Will you pray for me as I embark on this long path of growth?

How equipped do you feel when you are presented with opportunities to be a witness for Christ? What are your goals to keeping growing as a Christian?

Are we in the fire?

I'm a firm believer that many times when we think Satan has his hands on some bad situation that is happening around us that it's actually God testing our resolve. There's an analogy that my aunt taught me when I was young that compares God to a Silversmith. I won't go into detail but the gist is this: Sometimes God puts you in the fire to make you shine brighter. I know I don't have to bring up any current events that might be testing Christians all over this country, and I'm not writing this to start a debate. I just want to ask you, are we in the fire? Are we being tested? Is God holding us in the fire to see how bright we can shine for him? 

He's a little encouragement for you: a Silversmith holds the silver in the fire long enough to bring out the shine and no longer...and he never takes his eyes off of it, not even for a moment. 

Shine bright!

Zechariah 13:9

This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is our God. ' ”