Heavy Love

It's hard to love like Jesus does. He loves everyone. Every. Single. Person. And He all loves us all the same. He loves us so much that he died to save us from our own weak, sinful selfs. Think about that kind of love for a second, and tell me that you can love every single person on this earth that way. 

Love every single murderer, rapist, and pedophile that way. Jesus does. 

Love every single racist, radical Islamist, and Neo-Nazi that way. Jesus does. 

Love every single homosexual, heterosexual, Democrat, Republican, black person, brown person, white person that way. Jesus does. 

Love every single sinner on this planet that way. Jesus does. 

He loves us. All of us. And there is not a single string attached. All we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, ask Him into our heart, and live our life walking closely with Him. 

That kind of Love can be heavy. 

I've watched it become so heavy that I can no longer tell who has that kind of Love in their heart and who doesn't. Even when I'm sitting inside a church. We shouldn't have to play a guessing game to tell who follows Christ and who doesn't. It should show with every word we utter and with every step and breath we take. 

I've watched while a country, who should be rallying around and comforting each other, break out into social media wars over gun rights and presidential candidates. Our job is to spread the Gospel, not anger. Get out there and do your duties. Love your fellow man, all of them, and show them the Love that changed your life so that it can bring them the same Peace it brought you. 

I've watched Christians assign weights to different sins and arrogantly decide that they are somehow better than others because their sin doesn't show quite as badly. Visible sins are not greater than invisible sin, and invisible sins are not invisible to God. They're all the same, and you'll never be able to love like Jesus if you can't see that.

I've watched finger pointing and read meaningless arguments over whether Christianity is more or less violent than Islam. We shouldn't have to argue it or prove it if we're showing it. And sadly, a lot of us are not showing Love. We're not showing anything. 

I've watched Christians spin a moment in which they should've been sharing the Gospel and spreading a message of Hope, Peace, and Love into a moment that's prime for arguing over the reasons why. It's not 'us against them,' it's 'us against the devil,' and we let the devil win every time we choose pride or fear over sharing the Love of Jesus. 

These attacks. These disasters. These horrible, terrible things that happen to our people, the American people, are not a surprise to God. Each and every one of them is opportunity to serve, love, and teach our fellow man. 

Get out there and do it. 

Dear Students: What I Really Want to Say But Can't

Dear students,

There are so many things that I've wanted to tell you all year but I just couldn't say. Whether the reason be legal, logical, personal, or whatever, I just couldn't tell you what was on my mind. 

Well, I've never been very good at keeping my mouth shut, so I am going to tell you everything I've wanted to say. Right here. Right now. 

#1 

There is a such thing as a stupid question, and you, my dear, just asked one. Close your mouth before you do any more damage. 

#2

If you're going to choose to be dumb, you need to at least be pretty...or funny...or really athletic. You're none of those things. Pick up the dadgum pencil and let's do this!

#3
I die a little inside when you do the thing that I, just seconds ago, told your classmate not to do. I think the energy drained from trying not to yell in these situations has aged me at least a decade.

#3
I do not fail you. You fail you. All I do is deliver the information and mark your assignments when you turn them in. It does not make me happy to mark answer after answer wrong on your tests. I feel like a failure each and every time that I have a student fail my class. And yes, I guess I could just 'bump you up' that few points every semester to get that grade up to passing, but then I really would be failing you. And I refuse to do that.

#4

High school has absolutely nothing to do with your ability to solve a quadratic equation. It's not really about learning the causes of the Civil War. And no, your knowledge of covalent bonds will not affect you in the "real world." What you're really supposed to be learning is how to do crap you don't want to do while working with the people that you don't necessarily want to work with. You're supposed to be learning how to think critically and problem solve. What you're really supposed to be learning is how to survive college and the workforce and hopefully one day be a productive citizen. Many of you are failing. Miserably. Congrats. Now change it. It's not too late; try when you want to quit, be kindness when your world stacks up against you, and be humble even when you feel like a superhero. 

#5

The teacher that snapped on you that day that you didn't bring anything to class may have just found out that her sister has to start chemo tomorrow. That teacher that was less than patient that day that you just couldn't get MAC factoring may have just gotten a picture text from her husband of the headstone she recently had to design for her baby. Your teachers are only human. We have bad moods, we have bad days, and we sometimes make poor decisions. Give us a break every now and then. We both know your teachers have given you the benefit of the doubt more times than any of us could count. 

#6

Contrary to what you think that office referral, Saturday school assignment, or parent phone call may mean, I really do care about you. The only reason I discipline you is because I care about you. Trust me, it would be a whole lot easier if I just ignored that bad behavior or just 'let you fail.' (See #3) There may be times when I don't particularly like you, but I always, always care about you. The moment you stepped foot into my room, I worked to help you grow just like you were my child. Sometimes that growth requires some hard lessons, like summer school. Sometimes that growth required an abundance of grace, like the day you couldn't gather your emotions so I let you retake the test when you were feeling better. Every decision I made concerning you came with the subconscious thought, "What if he/she were my child? How would I want this handled?"

#7

This one is a biggie. This one was on the tip of my tongue every day, every time I saw your cuts, your tears, or your silent (and sometimes not so silent) cries for help. But I could never say it because...well, because we live in a broken world that has decided that your teachers can never, ever talk to you about this...

Jesus loves you. 

And even though your world and heart may be broken, in Him you will find only Peace. I desperately hope you find Him. Sadly, I can't lead you to Jesus with words, but I hope you witnessed His Love through me as you sat in my classroom.

Love,
Mrs. Rich

An Open Letter to The Alabama Politicians Who Are Ruining Education

Dear Mr. Politician,

I can't remember a time that I did not want to be a teacher; all of that changed today.

Today I read an article explaining that Alabama teachers can expect their long awaited and much deserved raise in the next year or so, BUT they have some things that they are going to have to give up. Ha! Go figure. We teachers are used to this by now, but I would be lying if I said that this doesn't feel like a slap in the face. You're dangling the proverbial carrot in front of our faces, but I, for one, am not going to take this lying down.

I love my students, and I do not teach for the income. But, I do not enjoy feeling undervalued and I downright hate the way this implies that teachers as a whole are not doing their jobs. The problem with education is NOT too little accountability on teachers; the problem is too little accountability on the students and parents.We do not pay dentists based on cavities, we do not pay preachers based on saved souls, and we do not pay politicians based on approval ratings. Why does it make sense to you that we pay teachers based on approval ratings from students, test scores, and unannounced observations?

There are many variables that affect my students' performance in my class, and there is no way that I can control them all. If you want to fix problems in education, let's start in the home. Let's make sure that every student that walks in my room every day has a parent at home that made sure they left their home with a full stomach and the knowledge that someone loves them. Or at the very least, let's have a parent or guardian at home that makes sure that the student actually gets to school. Move accountability for attendance from the school to the parents and actually prosecute for truancy. When the students goes home at the end of the day, let's make sure that their parents or guardians ensure that they do their homework and talk to them about both the academic and social aspects of their school day. Let's let the responsibility for parent-teacher contact rest on the parent. If they need to know what is going on at school with their child, have them call on their free time rather than expect the teachers to make time in their already busy school day to call parents. That's impossible you say? Well I agree, but so is trying to improve education by making educators hate the very job they are called to do.

Let's allow the administration to actually, really punish the kids who do not behave according to the code of conduct. I can't tell you how many times I've had a special education student act horribly in class, violating LRE laws for every regular education student in the room, and my administrator's 'hands were tied' because the kid was receiving special education services. I love special education, but your laws are hurting many of the students that our special education teachers are trying to help. While we're on the topic of special education, let me just add that when I have a student that can't read or write come to my high school classroom, I hate what you've done with education so badly that I almost cannot participate in the charade anymore. This child does not need more legislation that tell us, him, and his parents that he cannot be 'left behind' and that he will 'progress with his regular education counterparts.' This child needs to be taught how to read, not how to solve a quadratic equation. All this talk about keeping kids from falling through the cracks, and here you are pushing them through. Mr. Politician, it is time to stop.

Let's remove graduation ratings and standardized test scores if you're not actually going to use them for student accountability. Sometimes students need to fail, and you need to trust the teachers when the students do fail. I love and care for each student that walks the halls of my school, but sometimes students need a little tough love. I meet each of my students halfway, and I believe with my whole heart and very well-educated brain that we are only hurting every student that we pass because we don't have the 'documentation' to fail them. I bend over backwards to help and teach students every single day, and I will not sit aside and let any politician imply that I do not already do enough for my students.

So, no, Mr. Politician. You've got it wrong. Teachers are not the problem with education, and YOU are NOT the solution. You are never going to fix education by creating more legislation; the only way to fix it is to leave the solution up to us, the very capable, hard working, well and properly educated teachers. If you keep pushing your agenda, I can promise you that the only thing you are going to accomplish is pushing good, loving, talented teachers into other professions and leaving our students to flounder.

Very Sincerely,
An Alabama Educator

The weight of our words

When did it become acceptable to say what we think all the time? With the growth of social media and using the written...er, typed?..word, came the uncontrollable urge to voice our opinions to the masses. That attitude has spilled over into our everyday lives too. I've become too open with my opinions lately, so I'm not blame free. I've had my eyes opened recently as to some of the ways our words can affect the people around us, and I've decided to make an effort to be more thoughtful in what I say.

Your words hurt. You may or may not intend for your words hurt someone, but they do. Everyone you meet on a daily basis is carrying a load. Some people carry a light load. Some people carry more that you can imagine. Depending on the personalities of these people, you may know everything that has ever happened to them or you may know absolutely nothing. Social media allows us to voice our opinion to all of these people at once, but oftentimes that is more of a curse than a blessing. While you're only thinking about your close knit group of friends and maybe a few acquaintances, you're actually sharing your thoughts with hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Most of us would be extremely nervous if we had to actually speak in front of a group. Some of us would probably be unable to speak at all, but we're not as timid when it comes to the written word. Sometimes we should be timid. When the words we want to say are damaging, we should be more apprehensive to say them.

When you shout to masses on social media that you are tired of being pregnant and you wish this baby would come out already, you are trampling all over any woman who has ever had a miscarriage. You may not ever even think about it, but I bet their angel baby was the first thing they thought of when they read your status. It probably even made them tear up a little thinking about how bad they wished they could have made it to that point. It might have even made them angry that you aren't more appreciative of the fact that you are blessed with a healthy, uneventful pregnancy. I'm sure the women that I see updating us on their uncomfortable state of pregnancy never meant to upset anyone with their status, but that doesn't change the fact that they did.

When you tell the parents of a child with cancer that the hospital is all she's ever known, you might as well be telling them that their child's life is being wasted. They know better. They know that their little girl knows love, she knows fun, she knows vacations, she knows laughter. You may not know it, but she knows so much more than the fear, pain, and uncertainty surrounding her diagnosis. I'm sure the lady who was pitying this little girl and her parents only meant well by saying those things, but that doesn't change the fact that her statement did nothing but annoy and maybe even anger that sweet girl's parents.

The words you say are heavier in someone's ears as they were coming out of your mouth. People are flippant with words. I'm the world's worst to say something that I don't think matters when in reality my words are hitting someone like a ton of bricks. I told a friend the other day that I had a dream that 'she went and got all skinny on me.' I thought nothing of the words when I said them, but they hurt her. What she heard was "Thank God you're still fat", but that was nowhere near my intentions. I let those words fly right out of my mouth as light as a feather without ever realizing their weight until I heard her cry when she finally decided to explain how bad I had hurt her.

When I told a friend that I was having a baby and went on and on about how easy it was for us to get pregnant, I had no idea that I was practically ripping her heart out. I had no idea that she had tried for years to get pregnant and been through multiple fertility treatments. I never even thought twice about it, but she was well aware of her infertility the entire time I was telling her how easy it was for me to get pregnant. Only when she finally became pregnant did she tell me why it was so difficult for her to be happy for me when I told her about my pregnancy. I was just excited about my news and I wanted to share it with a friend, but that doesn't change how my attitude about my news made her feel.

When you've said it, you can't un-say it. You can apologize, but those you've hurt still remember what you've said. They may forgive you, but it's too hard to forget. While your relationship with that person may continue past hurt feelings, he or she will always have those words in the back of their mind. The outcome is even worse on social media. You seldom to never see your 'friends' or 'followers', so the majority of their opinion of you is formed from their interaction with you via social media. It takes one, just one, post to compel people to delete you. I know because I wrote a status update on Facebook about a year ago along the lines of this blogpost, and I lost 'friends' over it.

Not everyone cares about your opinion. Actually, most people who haven't asked for it don't care about what you think. However, if you believe in what you're going to say with all of your heart, by all means you get your opinion out there. I mean, hello! I'm writing a blog. Of course I think you should share your thoughts with anyone that will listen, but I just think that we should concentrate on sharing constructive ideas and opinions.

I'm all for free speech, but can we please just think before we speak sometimes? I'm not naive enough to think that we can always think about everyone's feelings. I just think it would make for a happier world of we thought about the weight of our words before we speak. I try to teach my students to think about their words; if what they want to say isn't thoughtful, kind, and necessary, I tell them that it's be better not to say it. I admit my efforts are often futile, but I try. I'm also trying make an effort to be more thoughtful in the words I speak because I never know how they'll affect someone. 

While this may fall on lots of deaf ears and many people that I share this with probably won't take the time of day to read it, I hope that it may reach just one person who will join me. Before you click post, read your words from someone else's perspective. Before you open your mouth, really think about what you're going to say.

Thank you so much for reading. Please share your opinions and comments with me! 

I didn't choose to teach.

I'm a teacher, but I didn't choose to teach.

I bet if you asked the nation's pre-service teachers why they want to teach, the majority of them would tell you that they want to make a difference somehow. I know because I was there once, and I chose to make a difference, too.

I didn't choose to teach because I wanted to spend my days checking dress code. I teach because I want to be there for a student who doesn't have a coat to wear in the freezing cold of winter.

I didn't choose to teach because I enjoy listening to adolescents tell stories about who partied at whose house last weekend. I teach because I want to be a shoulder to cry on for the students whose best friend hung himself last night.

I didn't choose to teach because I wanted to be able to tell the difference between a student who really needs to go to the bathroom and a student who just wants to get out of class. I teach because I want to be there to help the student who just came back from cutting herself in the bathroom.

I didn't choose to teach because I like to hear the ramblings of the self-professed 'pot heads' in my classroom. I teach because I hope to be the one person who actually gets through to them and shows them that they can have and be more.

I didn't choose to teach because I enjoy giving directions multiple times just to hear someone ask what we're doing immediately after I'm finished. I teach because I love seeing their eyes light up when they finally understand what they're doing.

I didn't choose to teach because I like eating my lunch in less than fifteen minutes while sitting in a lunch room exploding with the sounds of high school. I teach because I need to be there for the student who tells me on Monday that she hasn't eaten since Friday because she doesn't have any food at home.

I didn't choose to teach because I wanted to spend hours every week writing lesson plans that will not go as planned. I teach because I love how it feels when those lessons fall perfectly into place and I can feel my students learning.

As I pulled my projector screen down and wrote the date on the board this morning, I thought about how bad I wanted to go back home. I caught myself wishing the day would pass by quickly. Then I reminded myself that that is not why I do what I do. I don't come to work to pass the time. I come to work for my students.

We motivate the unmotivated.
We love the unlovable.
We teach the unteachable.
We are teachers, but we didn't choose to teach. We chose to make a difference, so that's what we will do.