Tears

I can't remember it ever happening before, and I can't say I'd be real excited for it to happen again.

I was working with my 6th graders. We were revisiting the homework from the previous night which had some review of ordering fractions/mixed numbers. It must have hit some buttons for one of my students because I could tell she was getting frustrated. She was trying so hard to keep it together, but then the tears started. My heart broke. I wanted to make it easier, to alleviate the frustration, and help her understand. I wanted to wave a magic wand and bring about instant comprehension. We struggled through finishing the problem and survived the rest of math class.

I couldn't believe how much I was affected by her pain. I love my students dearly, but at the same time, they're not my own kids. I've been thinking off and on about my reaction and about God's interactions with us as his children too. How does he respond when he sees our tears? Does he wish he could take away the struggle and help us understand while at the same time knowing that the struggle is the best thing for us at the time? Does his heart hurt as much as ours does in the midst of the pain and does he yearn for us to trust him more? Does he have to restrain from "fixing" problems which he could do with just a word?

I only had this one student struggling that day. I can't picture if all of them were struggling on the same day. Yet as I think about our God, he sees everyone/everything and loves everyone. How many people around the world are hurting today? How many are hungry or thirsty? How many are crying? He knows it all and feels it all. What an amazing God--he takes the time to have a relationship with each of us, to know our hurts and joys, our confusion and insights, and our failures and successes. Wow! I pray that in some small way I can be a part of his work in the lives of those in my life.