I haven't blogged in a loooong time. Truth be told, my life is writing this story so fast I can't keep up. I've had a lot on my mind lately -
adjusting to our life with {3};
adjusting to our life with {3}+a house;
adjusting to our life with {3}+a house+a job;
adjusting to our life with {3}+a house+a classroom to empty
adjusting to our life with {3}+a house+a classroom to empty+ a different job;
Everyone else seems to be adjusting an eensy weensy bit better than I am. My {science} classroom (and all the fun experimental kinds of things that are tiny and add up faster than I can type this that come along with that word) is finally FINALLY cleaned out.
There is not one spec of {me} left in the middle school. Gone. Like a candle in the wind ~ extinguished.
My teaching license allows me to be flexible and so that's what I keep chanting to myself - "I'm flexible. Flex-eeee-blay" But my hearts keeps piping up too - this {job} is who I {am}. I've poured out myself into {it}. I've worked long and hard. It's my mission field. These middle school kids have been my mission.
Surely I cannot be the only person in the word who has ever had to {change}.
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Today I sat on the floor of my 'office' going through old boxes of cards while the {3} slept. I came across a card that someone had given me for my college graduation 10 years ago to.the.day (God works in mysterious ways, eh?). My heart needed some words and not surprisingly, it found them in a box.
If I could give you anything as you graduate from college, I would GIVE you a candle that burns as BRIGHTLY as the light within you, the light you are...I would tell you to keep it burning, no matter what. I would say don't let the well-intentioned extinguish it. Don't let the mean-spirited blow it out. Don't let your light flicker and fade because of everyday challenges and concerns. The world is large, and no one can illuminate it alone, but it is amazing how a single candle, burning brightly can light so many others.
And so it is. I cannot possibly be the only one who feels extinguished; snuffed out; slipped away; defeated. But perhaps like me, someone's heart needs a reminder.
Press on. Push forward.
The world needs your light. Hold your candle high.
