Responsibilities

Our lives are filled with more and more responsibilities as we get older. We take on bills, careers, build families, and somewhere in all of that we are still responsible of taking care of ourselves. It can be very overwhelming at times and so much so that we forget the importance of some of the things we are called to do. 

I've noticed that through becoming a teacher I have really had to become more organized with my responsibilities than ever before. If not some things simply won't get done. But God has also been there to quickly remind me of tasks He has given me when I start to let them go. For me one of the easiest things to let go is prayer. It's probably the stupidest thing to stop doing, but somehow gets left out when my to do list gets to be too much. 

Last year as it was my first year as a teacher God reminded me that I need to make praying for God's strength and wisdoms a HUGE responsibility! I was constantly in new situations and felt a lot of pressure to be perfect. I had to really trust that God would begin to teach through me and remind me that none of this is about me. 

So far this year I have felt God gently nudging me to pray more for my students. These are kids that have been placed in my care not by the administration of the school, or as a chance, but by God! These are kids that live in this same fallen world we all do and heart aches at an early age! These are kids who just like everyone else need to feel safe and loved throughout the day! That's my responsibility when they are with me. 

As I began to focus my prayers more towards my students and their specific lives I have also noticed God opening my eyes to more oportunities to show them an example of grace. Today I read them You Are Special by Max Lucado and at the end of the book SEVERAL students started conversing with each other about how when God loves them, what other people think doesn't matter (funny how that later ended up being the theme of my devotional story this evening) I couldn't help but tear up a bit and smile. I might be limited in what I can say to my students regarding my faith but I can show them love and grace and continue to pray that God will meet their every need. 

God has blessed me with a huge responsibility to care for these precious babies. Today I am so thankful I have a job that allows me the opportunity for such responsibilities.