A biblical worldview, to me, means seeing everyone through God's eyes and treating them accordingly. In the middle of my roller-coaster year, I heard a sermon by Andy Stanley who reminded me that God loves everyone I meet as much as He loves me. That was very sobering for me to remember. God, who is a central figure in my existence, and hears my prayers--he loves the students I am praying for and about, the ones who have almost universally rejected Him--as much as He loves me. When you remember that, you start seeing the people around you in a different light. A better light. The idea definitely reminded me that my job is also a mission field. Not in the evangelical way, which I'm not a big fan of anyway. But in the way that--my students are watching me closely and judging me. They know I am a Christian. I have an opportunity to demonstrate GOD'S LOVE.
During my morning drive to school, which takes about 10 minutes, I started praying for my day and for my kids. It definitely helped me have more peace as I drove into the parking lot. At night, when I didn't stumble into bed and fall asleep within seconds, I would pray for specific kids who I know were really hurting.
This next year, I would like to be more purposeful in my praying. I would like to pray for ALL my kids, and keep God's vision in my mind for them. Also, I took a break from social media this summer, and I realized how dependent I had become on it. What a time suck! It's relaxing to me, I suppose, to mind numbingly scroll through and watch everyone's everything. But it would be better in the morning to read my Bible, a habit which I am trying to cultivate now. The business of my life is what sometimes diminishes my spiritual life.
GOAL: To maintain a healthy spiritual journey this next year; one that is purposeful and consistent.
There are two things that come to mind when I think on how to instill God's truths into my students through my lessons and daily interactions. The first comes from Matthew 7:1:
"Don't criticize, and then you won't be criticized."
As teachers, we fall into this trap so quickly. It's called "venting", and this year I was a huge culprit. While I found the need to vent about difficult kids (and staff) to others, I thought it helped me to share--but really, it was just helping to cultivate the culture of negativity. This year, I need to not buy into that, and instead be openly positive and supportive of everybody--particularly my most difficult kids.
The second has to do with my philosophy of education (*will post later). The first thing on my list of what I am trying to achieve in my classroom with my students is TO LOVE THEM. That is my main objective. That is the focal point of my discipline. That is the bet on which I hinge everything else. For me, and for us--that has to be planted and cared for first before we can move on to "requirements", because some of my kids are at a place where they see me initially as THE ENEMY. THE MAN. THE AUTHORITY. And they know exactly how they feel about "those people", and it energizes them to challenge that. Usually, that changes once I establish a relationship centered on love. I wonder if part of my issues this year centered on not being able to communicate that in a genuine matter--my frustration probably watered my message down.
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