I would like to say every devotion I write comes right out of my own experience or my heart. But sometimes I read something and I feel compelled to share it. I find a nugget in someone else's writing and off I go. This is the case today. The idea came from a small devotional by Charles Stanley from June of last year. What he wrote was not intended for teachers but it is certainly applicable.
Who hasn't been discouraged by a student or maybe a parent? In our district, probably discouragement comes daily. We serve the underprivileged, the under achievers, high poverty, low motivation, broken-in-many-ways families. That's what you signed up for if you're teaching here. But I don't mean to make it sound like there's no hope. You really can't make a career in an environment where you don't see hope.
What I'm saying is that you are the hope. You are the servant here. You are the constant in someone's chaos; the light in a very dark world for some of them. Just as Jesus spent time with the outcasts, the sinners, the sick, the rejected, you, too have a calling. In Stanley's devotion he likened Jesus' visit with Zacchaeus to an opportunity to serve a "spiritually needy" man. He looked up a tree and intentionally singled him out by saying He would join him at his house; Zacchaeus, a despised tax collector in need of a Savior.
Jesus took the time to look up and pursue a relationship with someone in need. Not unlike what you do every day in your job. No doubt you will find someone up a tree today, waiting and hoping for a teacher, a secretary, or a principal to be available, aware, and accepting just like Jesus. Who's in your tree today? We'll pray that you will have what it takes to look up and be willing to serve.
You are, after all, blessed by the Lord and highly favored.
Barb
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