The Tide

I love reading aloud to my class and rereading books that have touched me. This past week I started reading Rules by Cynthia Lord and came across a great image. The narrator is talking about the difference between high and low tide and how she can tell which it is just by driving by--the different smells and colors.

I've been trying to get a handle on how things are going this fall for me and this seems to be the best image that I can come across--it's like the tide. Things don't ever seem to be stable for long. One week, day, or even hour, things can seem to be settled and it feels like low tide--I can stand up and walk around and spend time combing the beach for shells left when the tide went out.

That can all change in an instant with a phone call, parent stopping by, checking my email, or walking into the office. Suddenly it is high tide and I am struggling to keep treading water and not get swept out to sea. I don't want to give the impression that it's all bad though. Learning to tread water is a great skill (figuratively as well as in 'real life'--I was a lifeguard/swim instructor) and then to be able to move toward higher ground in the midst of high tide--figuring out which things need to become necessities and which things can be swept away.

It has been good for me to find glimpses of the bigger picture. At parent teacher conferences, one of the families took time to close our conference in prayer. Wow! It was an encouragement to be reminded of God's faithfulness and to hear their prayers for me and the school. Friday night I was able to step back and be reminded of the joys of being around the kids at BCA. StuCu stayed after school to set up for a cafe night and we ordered pizza and enjoyed playing games before the event got started. I love looking around at the room at the students and thinking about the amazing ways that God is working in their lives. This morning as I proctored the ACT test, I was thrilled to be able to pray for those students from BCA sitting in that room--that God would direct their paths, lead them to himself, grow them into men/women of God, etc. How amazing to have this privilege. And all this in the midst of high tide and a hard week. God is so good!!!

(I don't know a ton about tides, etc so if my analogy is a bit off for those of you who do, I'm sorry...)

love

At our small group meeting last weekend, the question came up, does God love everyone the same...

I try to give my students time to free write each day and sometimes I plan it so I can write with them instead of spending that time teaching one group or the other. So, this week, I took some time to ponder.

I've heard it said that although a parent might love each of their children, that love might be different toward each child. The needs of the child and the relationship that has been formed 'changes' the love. I can't speak from personal experience...

Each of us have different needs and a different relationship with our heavenly father. Our needs are different as are our personalities, hopes, and dreams.

I was thinking how this might connect with love languages as well. Since God is the one who formed us and knows us more deeply than we can even understand ourselves, it's neat to think that he would love us in the ways that mean the most to us individually. At any moment, he knows our greatest joys and the deepest hurts-those things that no one else can see.

I'm not trying to question God's love for any one person for I believe that God does love each of us, but I picture that looking different in each of our lives as we walk in relationship with him. Maybe as we get closer, we can better see how God loves us, our eyes being opened to new ways that he is at work or has been at work--like a deepening friendship when you learn to see and understand the other person better and the ways that they love you.

Thoughts?

By Your Side

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life

(Chorus 2x)

Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go

--Tenth Avenue North

What a great reminder of God's promise never to leave us or forsake us. How often we fight the hands that hold us...

Broken Pots

During my devotions this week, I was directed to this verse:

Psalm 31:12b-I have become like broken pottery.

The question suggested taking time to imagine God putting my life back together.

I was struck by a number of thoughts as I considered this idea.

Certainly all of us have felt at times like our lives have fallen apart. Sometimes we can feel God graciously putting the pieces back together and at other times it seems He gently allows us to stay in that state of brokenness for longer than is comfortable.

I wondered if when God puts our lives back together if the pieces go back into the same places. Or, does he take the pieces and create something completely different with them. Perhaps the way we have been designing our lives doesn’t fit with his original intention. So, he takes the broken pieces and creates something new.

I also wondered whether the ‘fixed pot’ would look like it had at one time been broken or if it would look like it was brand new. Would Jesus in his love, leave the seams and unevenness as a reminder of our brokenness or would he join the pieces together in his perfect way. Would all the pieces be re-used, or would some pieces be left out? Would there be things he would purposefully remove from our lives? Would there be holes where pieces were missing, or would the pot be ‘holeless’?

What would Jesus use to mend broken pots? Would he pick Elmer’s glue because it dries clear? Would he opt for super glue because it dries quickly? Would he choose colored ‘grout’ to create a design with the pieces?

I often choose to wear rubber gloves when working with sticky messes. So, that caused me to wonder, would Jesus wear gloves, or would he risk getting his hands dirty in the process of mending our lives.

So, I know our pots aren’t literal, but it was sure neat for me to consider these things…to wonder about what kind of pot God is making me to be…

Details

For those of you who have been wanting more details about last weekend's retreat...here they are. God had given me a vision for a student council retreat some time ago, but I hadn't ever been able to figure out the details of when, where, how, and the financing. This year, instead of taking two students to Budapest for the ACSI Leadership Conference, we took the money for that trip and applied it toward taking a trip as an entire group.

One of the families within our school community owns a camp about 2.5 hours away from Bucuresti. When the train schedule fell apart, God provided a van and driver that worked better for our schedule and was cheaper--isn't God great!!

We arrived and the students jumped right in to playing in the gym--a treat they thoroughly enjoy since we don't have one for our school right now. We gathered for a lunch and then the fun began. We asked everyone to draw their expectations for the weekend which we shared and then posted on the walls. I shared about the goals I had (which overlapped with some of theirs).

As I have learned about different self-knowledge tools these past three or so years, I have been amazed at the difference it makes in how I interact with other people on various teams. I wanted to share this knowledge with this group of students as well as helping them to better understand themselves.

After our brief intro, we headed up the hill for a teambuilding activity. Although it was windy and a bit cold, it was great to spend time outside overlooking the beauty of God's creation. Our time on the top of the hill end with rolling down the hill.That evening following dinner we talked about the DISC profile and did an activity in groups then discussed the differences in how the groups functioned. Our evening ended with a campfire and free time (marco polo and red rover in the dark in the gym...).


The following day we talked about MBTI which seemed to bring the 'ah has' for the students. It was great to hear them discussing and interacting, trying to understand different ways of thinking and functioning.

We ended our time with a business meeting. It was a joy to hear some students that hadn't contributed at all in previous meetings sharing their ideas. It seemed that they were choosing to listen to others and encourage their input.

The van ride back to Bucuresti was much quieter than the one heading out of the city :)

It is my prayer that they will continue to apply the ideas they have heard, that they will look at their own weaknesses, and that they will continue to grow together as a team.

True Confessions

I'm a control freak. I think I've known it for some time now, but I'm finally coming to grips with the fact. Although it may sometimes be easier to just do it myself, I need to learn to let go of some things and help others to learn how to do them. It's okay if things don't turn out exactly the way I might have done them. God has blessed each of us with different gifts that he wants us to use to encourage one another and I need to allow those people around me to use their gifts.

My Class:)

I finally got a picture taken of my class:) Here they are.
(From Back Row Forward) Corina, Moriah, Lexi, Precious; Dowan, Young Jun, Angie, Hannah; Jim, McKenna, Sarah, Andre

Fun!!

It all started with a Venn diagram. I know that's not really a 'real-life' way of discussing a book, but it is something we pull out in a classroom. I asked my 6th graders to compare the main character(s) from Julie of the Wolves. For those of you who have read the book, you know there is only one, but she has two names: Julie and Miyax. Each name is from a different time in her life. We started out adhering to the Venn diagram, and then it happened. One of the kids asked a question and we went down a rabbit trail about the character's life and how it compares to their lives as third culture kids...how they sometimes have different personalities based on which country they are living in. We talked a lot about which was better. They were asking questions of me which I directed back to them. I sat 'up front' amazed to be a part of such an amazing discussion. I served mostly as a moderator because they all had so many things to say. They were listening to each other, adding new ideas, and referencing specific parts of the book. What a joy as a teacher!!