What do you do when the everyday routine becomes mundane? What do you do when things in your routine are going wrong or become an inconvenience? One day I was at work, as a teacher with my preschool students, and just those things were happening.
It was midway through November. This was the time of year
where Halloween, aka candy high hype, has somewhat worn off. The time of year
when kids were talking about Santa and what he was going to get them for
Christmas. When they would forget about Thanksgiving and just keep repeating
what they wanted for Christmas, which was probably annoying me as well because
I tire of people skipping Thanksgiving, but it is hard to commercialize that.
The day began pretty normal. Kids came in and began
playing. I was working on projects with the kids. The trouble began during
circle time. Kids were all up in one another’s grills (touching each other) so
I had to remind them to stay in their bubble. Then they forgot to repeat what I
was telling them to repeat (5 times I tried and failed to get them to repeat
after me). When story time came again, they were in one another’s grills. Center
time came and kids were just not following the rules at centers. I would remind
them nicely and they would not listen. Then a child I had just sent to the
bathroom had an accident five minutes after I sent her to the bathroom. This
event made us get outside late. At lunch the kids were having bad manners, and
a child spilled her whole cup of milk. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! At that point
though, it was kind of like, fine pile on the crap so I just let it roll off my
back.
Then an aide for one of my students looked at me and
said, “how are you feeling?” I didn’t answer really because I didn’t know how
to answer. Honestly, I was not feeling the greatest. I was quite annoyed and
impatient and tired and slightly overwhelmed. But I also did not want to say
all that in front of the kids and have to get into all that with her. She just
said, “it seems like you are not yourself today.”
Woah lady, who are you to tell me who I am and who I am
not?! Was my initial thought. I could feel the anger boiling up. She was
somewhat right. I was a bit more on edge because of all the little things
piling up. I felt like a mouse we read about in a book that day. The mouse just
kept finding food and piling it up on top of the next piece of food. Well, you
can imagine how that went when the cat caught up with him.
In a way, the aide was kind of like the cat. She was
calling out my bad attitude. I didn’t like it, and everything came crashing
down.
While I disagreed with how she asked and the fact that
she said I didn’t seem like myself because I was doing the normal things I do
every day, I also knew I wasn’t letting my light shine. Matthew 5:16 says, “In
the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your
good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” This not-so-great
day was taking its toll. It was diminishing my light. In a certain way, I felt
justified. How many people have to deal with all those things I was dealing
with daily? Why did all the bad things have to happen at once? I had a right to
be a bit cranky, didn’t I?
Not according to Matthew 5:16. I wasn’t doing a great job
at being set apart. I wasn’t very loving and patient. Now, to a certain extent,
some of the things the students did, did merit consequences. But that doesn’t
mean I had to be cranky as I dished those consequences out. I could have been
more patient and understanding. That doesn’t mean that being those things is
easy. It’s just what we, as Christians, are called to do.
In case you were wondering, to get back on track, I took
my break to listen to a Christian podcast, had some prayer time asking for
forgiveness, and wrote this blog. All those things helped change my attitude.
Amazing what a bit of God time can do, isn’t it?
So, when days like this happen, what is your reaction?
How can you let your light shine daily no matter your circumstances?
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