I don’t want to come off in this post sounding like I hate being around people. I love being around people. I just love controlling which people I’m around. Meeting new people is not something I’m great at or excited about, and I’m almost obsessive at times about controlling my environment when at all possible. I enjoy being around others, I really do – they just have to be ones who are just like me or who I find to be interesting. (That’s sound awful as I write it, but it is what it is. I didn’t start this blog to be politically correct, but to be honest.)
Having said that, tomorrow marks a great challenge for me. For the past two and a half months, I really haven’t had to see any people that I didn’t voluntarily want to see. June, July and August are major perks for teachers. Ninety percent of my energy over that period of time has been spent with my soon to be two year old daughter.
Highlights have included:
- several visits to YouTube for videos of Kermit, Cookie Monster, Ernie and Elmo hopping, eating, counting, singing, and dancing on the moon
- blowing bubbles, lots of blowing bubbles
- hiking with Coach, our yellow lab
- napping
- reading about Spot the dog, some very excited hippos, a cat that can’t seem to stay out of trouble, and many farm animals making noise.
It’s been one of the best summers of my life. Also, I’ve found more peace than in years past. I’ve read and studied a lot, written some, and I feel like I’ve got as good of perspective on life as I have had in a while. Tomorrow I find out how solid of a foundation that peace and perspective is standing on.
Tomorrow the school year starts for me. That means people. Lots and lots of people. People who don’t love we with the same passion that my wife and daughter and dog do. People who aren’t looking for ways to make my life better. And many people I don’t agree with. It’s easy to maintain a loving, Christ-like attitude towards others when you don’t have to be around them. Tomorrow I actually have to be around them.
Most challenging for me, as I’m sure it is for many of you, is showing love to those who have wronged me in some way. Or those whose actions I don’t respect. Especially those in positions of authority or leadership. And there are some in positions of authority to me who I feel have been deceptive and reckless.
Teachers are excellent at complaining, especially with other teachers. And I am no different. In fact, I’ve had a couple of conversations with fellow educators in the weeks leading up to the beginning of the school year, and I’ve already found myself falling into a “Shannon must be comfortable”-centered attitude in those discussions. It is a trait, if I believe any of the things I say I believe, that must be changed.
In a sermon I heard recently by John MacArthur (http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/42-87), he explains that in a world full of different religions and many who don’t believe in any God, perhaps the best way for Christians to gain credibility is through love. But it’s got to be supernatural, God-inspired and strengthened love. The entire world loves those who are nice to them, those who agree with them. The calling for Christ-followers is to be different. That calling is to deal with being wronged or disagreed with or just plain annoyed as a part of living in the world and as an opportunity to display a different kind of love. But it must be a real love, not a love motivated by the desire to be a “good Christian,” whatever that is.
Tomorrow the year begins. It’s like New Years Day for educators, and I’ve got a long list of resolutions. How effective will I be? I’ll keep you posted.
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good luck! and by the way, even though you might not enjoy meeting new people and getting out of your comfort zone, i do believe that you are good at it... you can thank God for that!
ReplyDeletep.s. YAY for white background with black type (vice versa was hard to read with as much text as you are typing-you're long-winded--hahah!) :O)
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