As a teacher, the surprise ending of the children’s book First Day Jitters always brings a smile to my face. Amidst all the back to school mania – shopping for school clothes and shiny new school supplies, changes in Back to School Routines – it can be easy to forget that our children’s teachers are adjusting to a new school year as well.
We drop our own little ones off at daycare again, watching through tear-filled eyes as they also readjust to the school year and to being without mama all day. We print rosters, make seating charts, and prepare presentations for Parent Orientation Night. We challenge ourselves to grow as we embrace new technologies and new instructional strategies. We organize our own shiny new school supplies, setting a few aside for students we know will be in need. We read over IEPs and health plans. We plan teambuilding games, knowing relationships must come before curriculum.
And we pray over the children whose lives we will touch. We pray for wisdom, patience. We pray that the children who walk into our doors in August get exactly what they need from us to fall in love with learning; to be happier, healthier and more confident when they leave us in May.
But my first year jitters are a little different this year. See, I just stepped out of a boat of sorts. It was somewhere I had been for a long time, with people I know and love. The boat was familiar, safe, and wonderful. But I know that the place I am right now is the perfect place for me. It’s where I need to be.
I just left a school I’ve known since I first started teaching. A curriculum I spent 7 years getting to know, and of which I was incredibly passionate. I left teachers who have molded me my entire career, who made me into the teacher I am today. I left some of my best friends in the world and some of the best educators I will ever know.
I have stepped into a new adventure, and surprisingly, my first day jitters are calming quicker than expected. I am getting to know my new school, my new colleagues. I’ve made friends. I’ve bumped into familiar faces. And I’m quickly forming bonds with the hoards of sixth graders who also don’t know where the math classrooms are yet. (Hallway supervision is currently a blind-leading-the-blind type situation for me.)
This journey is new and scary, but also wonderful and refreshing in ways that I didn’t even see coming! Stepping out of the boat doesn’t seem nearly as intimidating if I keep my eyes on Jesus while I “walk on the water,” on this unknown path. As long as I keep my eyes on Him, I know I’ll get to where I need to be without sinking. And I will find so much blessing in it.
As moms, we face many life changes, and whether career related or not, I hope these quotes help you get to where you are going!
‘We won’t embrace with both hands what God has for us if we hold our old lives in a death grip.’ (Beth Moore, “Patriarchs“)
“We have to believe that where God wants to take us will be better than what we are clinging to, even if we can’t imagine it.” (Kelly Minter, “No Other Gods“)
“‘Lord, if it’s you,'”Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?'” (Matthew 14, NIV)
So, tell me… what is your next adventure?
