There is a famous hymn that says, “On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”  I have heard it many times in the past,  but I have not spent much time reflecting on it until I heard it in a new light and way while reading the book, “Letter to my Daughter,” by Maya Angelou.  I love Maya Angelou.  I love reading her books, and I love how much wisdom she has to share in her life. The quote in the book which was a part of a poem was, “I am a builder Sometimes I have built well, but often I have built without researching the ground upon which I put my building. I raised a beautiful house and I lived in it for a year.  Then it slowly drifted away with the tides for I had laid the foundation upon shifting sand.”  I read those lines in that poem, and it instantly inspired me to write this blog post.    

This, of course, can not be a truly good Christian blog post unless there is a verse from the Bible.  The hymn does take its reference from a parable in the Bible from Matthew 7:24-27.  I will quote the first two verses.   “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been found on a rock.”  The second half of this section in the Bible is like the builder that Maya Angelou described.  A builder who didn’t have a solid foundation, and then when the storms came, so did the house.  All of this seems fairly simple, but when really taking the time to think about how important a solid foundation is, we really do need to make sure that we have one in our Christian faith.  

This got me thinking that there are many things that I can start to build.  I wouldn’t say that I am a “builder” in the sense that I enjoy making structures.  However, I love to build up my life in the way that I believe it should be.  I love to be organized, and I love to get extra work done and create a schedule where I can get a mass amount of work done.  I can try to make the most and best lesson plans or the best blog posts or get the most books read etc.  All of that is good, and it is important to work hard.  God has given me the job that I have for a reason, and I should honor him with my work ethic.  However, it is caring about working hard and being seen as the best teacher on my own merits as opposed to having God work through me when it becomes a problem.  Then there will be something that will happen, a lesson plan will go wrong, I will receive a bad note from a parent, I will have a whole class upset with me, and I will start to feel like the sand is coming inwards and I am no longer on solid ground.  

So we need to check our ground first.  How would I suggest that?  I would suggest doing a heart check.  I would make sure that our hearts are in a good place and that our overall desire is to focus on the Lord and what his overall purpose for us is.  Besides my teaching job example, I also love to run, and yes I do in part love to run for myself, but is being a runner my complete identity?  Do I consider when I finish a race and do really well as part of who I am instead of just simply finding enjoyment out in the creation that the Lord has given me? Do I thank the Lord for my ability to run a half marathon, or do I simply just believe that I can get there on my own?  If I am looking at running or any particular activity that I am doing as an achievement of my own will, then I may need to complete a heart renovation.  

Then we need to spend some time in the Word.  This is what we are building our foundation and our life on.  How are we supposed to know what we are supposed to build off of if we never spend time? I know that it can be incredibly difficult to spend time in God’s word.  There are so many pieces that are hard to understand and are hard to piece together.  This is especially true if you are reading in the Old Testament where there was old Hebrew law, and people were allowed to make sacrifices.  It can be incredibly jarring.  I have discovered that I love to complete devotionals with a devotional guide to help lead me in my understanding of what the Bible is saying.  Talking the Bible over with a friend or a mentor is also incredibly helpful.  Bible studies with fellow believers are my absolute favorite, and it is incredibly refreshing to grow closer to God with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.   

Thirdly,  I think that it is important to pray.  I especially believe that one needs to pray with two goals in mind.  The first is thankfulness to the Lord for the ability and the possibility to do all the things that you want to do, whether this is run, or sing, or make music, or read, or write, your particular job, etc.  It is important to thank the Lord for all that he has given and will continue to give.  Then the second part is to pray that you keep Him in mind, whenever you are doing something and not just thinking of yourself.  

I do want to remind everyone, that this is not saying that we will never come across hard times.  Just because we build our house on nothing but the Lord, doesn’t mean that we won’t have trials and tribulations.  In fact, God guarantees that we will fall on rough times.  However, it is important to build yourself on God because when those hard times do come, you will not be shaken down or crumble. You will be able to stand through those rough waters and those harsh winds.  My challenge for you this week is to think of something that you may have started putting a foundation on.  Again, this can be any of your hobbies, your job, your relationship, etc.  I then want you to spend time in prayer over that particular piece of your life.  This is probably not a negative item in your life.  It is most likely a positive, but it shouldn’t be your life.  Pray to God, thanking him for whatever it is you are building off of, and ask him to help you make it a part of your house, not the foundation.  

I was doing a Bible study recently, and I was learning about King David.  The author of the Bible study guide mentioned that King David, while one with flaws, was his role model.  Then the question was who was my role model.  I realized that I don’t have just one person that I model my life after.  Yes, Jesus, of course, but when talking about “people” role models, I couldn’t list just one.  I have been so blessed to have so many people in my life that have influenced me and the characteristics that they have that I want to one day possess in my own life.  

One person of course is my mom.  If you have read a lot of my blog posts, then you know that my mom is my best friend and my favorite person in the whole world.  My two favorite qualities about my mom are her honesty and her thoughtfulness.  I have always loved how honest she is.  She will tell you what she is feeling.  She will give you her genuine thoughts and feelings.  I know that honesty is important and being willing to tell people your true opinions is something that should be valued in this world.  She is also thoughtful.  She thinks of others and what she can do for them constantly.   She is always buying her friends gifts, making them meals, and reaching out to them when they are sad.

Another person is my grandma.  Something that I absolutely love about my grandma is that she is generous.  She loves to give to those who need it.  She loves to give to a good cause.  This has always inspired me and my mother to be conscious of where our money is going and what we can be doing with it.  She never cared much about possessions.  She knows that you don’t need the nicest things in order to live a good life.  She cared more about living simple and making sure that those she loves and cares about are well taken care of and loved.  

Thirdly is Jess. She was always someone that I looked up to when I was living and working at Storm Lake.  She is so kind and she cares so much about the kids that she was serving in Storm Lake.  She was intentional.  She put aside time to serve and be with the kids and the girls she was discipling.  The first summer after she moved to India, and I worked at the Bridge without her, I tried to be as intentional with the kids as she was.  Laying down in my trailer, and I would hear the kids come from my neighborhood and knock, I would gather up some energy and spend some extra time outside, even past the work hours with the kids that God had called me to serve.  This has been a good reminder as I have become a teacher.  Sometimes, we have to be selfless with our time to really spend with those around us that we love.  

Fourthly is Shelly.  Shelly is God-fearing.  She loves Jesus and seeks to be his light wherever she goes.  She is also very kind and sweet.   However, my favorite part about her is her positivity.  She is always trying to be a ray of sunshine to the people around her, and she is always trying to be the sunshine in a rainy or a dark situation.  I know that must take a lot of strength and determination.  There are a lot of rough situations and not letting it get the most of you is pretty amazing.  Her positivity is contagious and many around her seek to find the positive after talking with her.

A fifth person I admire and look up to is Hillary.  Hillary is my best friend.  We met in college, and what is odd is that she was put into a class that I was tutoring in, and then she wanted to join a Bible Study that I was leading.  Even though, she then was one that God had put in my life to help lead, her compassionate and empathetic heart is one that I often find completely admirable.  She cares about people so deeply.  She weeps when they have pain and she is filled with joy when they are happy and are successful.  She is also a prayer warrior and is so great at spending time praying for others around her.  She takes time with the Lord seriously.  I am glad when we have deep conversations about the Word together.  

There are so many more people in my life who have provided me with a great deal of inspiration.  There have been so many teachers that I have worked with who I want to be more like.  There are so many prayer warriors that I want to pray like.  There are strong Christian men and women who I have learned life lessons from.  This also reminds me of the verses that I have memorized of Hebrews 10:24-25 which says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”  This is a good reminder that we are to encourage one another and help sharpen one another to be the best people that we can possibly be.  It is important to care about one another’s well-being and to love each believer to help them grow.  None of us are perfect, but we are all given qualities from the Lord that will help one another.  Who are your role models? I hope you have as many as I do. You also never know, you could be a role model for someone in your own life.

When I was a kid, I remember my pastor telling stories about times when he would lose his temper, and then he would have to apologize.  He would tell stories about when he would be in various places such as an airport, and he would have a moment of frustration and would snap at an airport attendant or other worker.  Then later, he would feel conviction and would find the airport attendant to apologize.  This always struck me.  I know that everyone gets upset and sins, but really my pastor could.  No way.  I guess it was good that he at least apologized.  

The truth is that we all get upset about the things that we shouldn’t.  I know that at least, I do.  I can get mad at the smallest things.  In this particular situation, I am talking about, I was upset that my one medicine prescription was denied.   Therefore, I had to call the doctor and then drive another half hour to pick up my medicine later than I had expected.  It was such a small thing, yet it made me terribly upset.  

This was a good reminder of how to be kind in moments that are harder.  Going back to the moment where I was upset, I was a bit frustrated sounding with the pharmacist. I know it wasn’t her fault. She was not the one who didn’t double-check that the pills were being made before driving a half hour. That was me. She was not the one who didn’t answer the initial call from the doctor to reschedule a physical and therefore didn’t check my prescription refill from the doctor, that was me. It is a humbling experience to realize that we are not always perfect and that sometimes we need to remind ourselves to be kinder and to be forgiving and to be loving when we are upset.  It is always important to realize that we should, as Christians, and as responsible adults, be aware and conscious of our emotions. 

This is also something that I need to make sure to teach my students.  I work with high schoolers, who I know are not always in complete control of their emotions.  Because of this, they will sometimes lash out at people and at things that are really not deserving.  It can be hard to tame down the situation when someone is so upset.  It can be hard to get the moment back to before they freaked out.  Whenever any of my students have apologized to me, I always make sure to thank them.  I will tell them that I believe it is very important to admit they are wrong and to try to make it right.  Even in the situations when I have said something wrong to a student or gotten upset when I shouldn’t, I also try to take the time to apologize to them.  

This is something that is taught to us in the Bible. Again, there are many verses about patience. I know, because I often have to look them up in order to remind myself to have more patience. One of those verses is Ephesians 4:2 which says, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”   I love this verse because it first reminds us again, that we need to be humble.  No one in this world is perfect.  We have all made a mistake at some point.  That being said, we need to be willing to look at our fellow humans as creatures of God who also make mistakes.   It is important to remember that we are all flawed and need God’s grace.  This doesn’t mean we can’t disagree with a decision or an action that is made, but overall, we should have enough humility to understand and be compassionate when we and those around us are not perfect. 

Then it is a reminder to bear one another in love.  The word, bear, here has a few definitions.  This can mean carrying the weight or support, and also it can mean to be enduring.  This is a good reminder that we need to support one another, even when enduring hard situations with complete love.  Now, you may say, what does this have to do with apologizing?  I would say that this is a good reminder that even when we are enduring our hardships, and even when it feels like we need the support, we need to remind ourselves that we shouldn’t go out of our way to make someone else’s time worse. 

The last thing that I want to mention is, what if the person that you want to apologize to isn’t around?  What if they have moved on, or they are a stranger, or you have no way to contact them.  I think that it is important that we remember to pray to the Lord. We should do this even with those to whom we can apologize.  This is an opportunity to tell the Lord an apology for acting out against his own creation.  Then make sure you forgive yourself and vow to learn from the current experience.  

I am a third-year teacher.  Being such, I am very aware of the place where a lot of teachers are, in the United States.  There are many teachers that are wanting to quit their jobs.  There have even been teacher strikes in the state of Minnesota.  This is not just one school or one teacher, but a whole movement of teachers that are exhausted and angry that are choosing to leave the profession.  I have personally known some teachers that have had breakdowns and have been close to quitting.  I have even been very close.  This past week, especially,  has really shown me the great highs and lows of teaching.  

As hard as it is to understand and as much as I don’t always like it, I am only in charge of myself.  I just had a very hard week where I watched some students make some pretty bad choices, even after constant warnings that they need to watch what they are doing.  I preach that choices have consequences, but they did not listen to me or the other teachers.  I don’t want them to be punished, yet, here we are.  They made choices and now many of them are reaping the consequences.  

I have learned more and more that I need to depend on the Lord.  A great example of this is Lamentations 2:19, “Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.  Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner.”  I love this verse because it talks about lifting up children to the Lord.  I know that I am not actually a mother, but I look at the kids I teach like they are my own.  I can’t be in control of all the choices they make or whatever happens to them, but I can care about them, and I can certainly give my concerns to the Lord.

The thing I realized though was that I can not fix anyone.  I can try my best to give advice and I can try my best to give some thoughts, but at the same time, I can not fix anyone.  There is only God that can do any of those fixings.  One thing that I have learned is it is important to listen.  This is not the time for the “I told you so’s.”  It is a good reminder that everyone makes mistakes.  We have all been in a place that has made a big mistake.  My job is to help be there for the students.  Then lastly, I do try to do this for devotionals.  But I try to pray over my students, two every day.  I want to lift them up to the Lord because I know he is really the only one who can use their lives to the best of his ability.  

However, I do really love my job.  There are moments when it is harder to absolutely love it, but for the most part, I love getting to be a teacher and do what I do every day. Recently, even though it has been a few hard weeks at work, I have had some pretty memorable moments that I want to share with you all.  This is a good reminder for me to hold moments like these tight when the other moments are harder and seem to arise more regularly. 

The first one is our celebration for our high schoolers.  The school where I teach does a celebration for the high school students after they reached 1000 golden tickets (a golden ticket is awarded from a teacher to students for good behavior).  Our celebration then was to go roller skating.  I didn’t know how this would go.  I didn’t know if the kids would really have fun or would be whiney.  (I do work with high schoolers, after all.)  However, they had a great attitude, and it was a joyful experience to watch these kids be kids for a while.  Sometimes my students are very much caught up in the social drama, family trauma, and stress from school that they forget to get off their phones, laugh, and enjoy themselves and others.  At the roller skating party, they did just that. 

Another great moment is getting my Spanish II students ready to teach their first elementary lessons.  I love when my students go to the elementary school to teach those students Spanish and what they have been learning.  It has been wonderful to see my students taking it so seriously.  There was even one student who quoted, “It is so great that we are going to be spreading our Spanish knowledge with the younger kids.”  I love getting them the experience of being leaders.  Many of them will realize from these lessons that they may have a passion to work with the youth and lead others in a lesson and activity.  

Then the last one is my absolute favorite.  Every year, I want to give the Spanish IV students a chance to ask me any questions that they have about college.  I have my three Spanish IV student girls.  I gave them some money to go to the gas station to buy some breakfast for all of us.  Then they were allowed to write down any questions that they had about college and life after high school. This ended up being a great discussion! I was so happy that the students really had some good questions and really wanted to know what to expect.  This is a good reminder that in my job as a teacher, I have a bigger role to play than just being able to teach them the basic Spanish concepts.  Yes, I have that role too, but I also am supposed to be there for them and to teach them to succeed after high school.  

I have been blessed with a pretty great opportunity to teach the youth.  I get to be there for the hard moments, including them learning hard life lessons, as well as for the pure joyful moments like roller skating.  Then I also get to be there to help lead them to their next steps.  The best part, though, is that I am the vine of the Lord’s work.  The Lord is the one who is working in the kids’ lives, and I just get to be a part of it. 

One of my favorite stores in the entire world is a store called, “World’s Window” in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  This is a fair trade store where everything is made from around the world, ethically and sustainably.  They are now selling the starfish project jewelry which is a brand that raises awareness and funds for those who have been human-trafficked, and many of the pieces have been made by those very survivors. I had the opportunity to go shopping there recently, and I got a necklace that has the words, “walk humbly, love mercy, act justly.”  Many of you will recognize these small groupings of words.  They are from the verse, Micah 6:8, and this is also one of my favorite verses. 

The whole verse goes like this, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  I love this verse because I think that it provides a blueprint for how we should live our lives.  I am going to break down these small groupings of words, but I am going to switch up the order for a very important reason, and that reason is that in order to do anything, we must first be walking with the Lord.  

I am first going to talk about the words, walk humbly.  As we see in the verse, this says, walk humbly with your God.  The only way that we are going to be able to do anything, including bearing a lot of fruit is through being humble and walking with God.  We can’t do anything on our own that is 100% pleasing to the Lord.  We need to have his spirit with us, every step of the way.  I have found the best way that I can walk humbly is through constant prayer and reflection.  I pray that God’s spirit will be the one to guide me.  I also then reflect on whether I am doing actions as a way to feel better about myself or as a way to grow closer to the Lord.  

The second one is to love mercy.  The general definition of mercy is, “to not receive what you deserve.”  In our Christian walk, we deserve death because of our sin.  We were not meant to have a relationship with the Lord.  We should not be given the chance to be with the Lord after we die in any way shape or form. However, the Lord paid our punishment when he died on the cross that then opened the door for the grace of eternity in heaven. That is mercy.  We should be in love at the mercy that God has provided for us, but we should also love mercy for other people.  Yes, we can still believe that there is justice.  I am not saying that we need to believe that no one deserves any punishment ever.  However, we can believe in forgiveness and the power that it can bring.  

The third one then is my absolute favorite, and it is probably the reason why I love this verse so much as well as love this necklace I purchased. This is to act justly.  To act justly is to try your best to be completely fair.  There are some social systems that need to be eradicated and fixed in our world today.  There are some issues that need to be discussed.  If any of us watch the news, then we can see this very clearly.  Acting justly means being willing to see the problems in the world and be willing to fix them.  Acting justly means standing up for our faith.  Acting justly means treating everyone in the world, who are all creations of the Lord, with complete respect and love.  

There are times that I just want to skip right to acting justly.  I hear about a good cause and I want to be a part of it.  I want to fundraise, I want to raise awareness, and I want to make it a part of my life. I will use the example of the fundraiser that I do every year called, “Dressember.”  I love doing Dressember.  I love wearing dresses all throughout the month of December and raising awareness and funds to end human trafficking.  However, there are times when I don’t spend time really thinking about the whole reason I love Dressember.  I can make this fundraiser all about myself.  I make this a fundraiser where people get to see my pretty dresses and outfits, they get to help me raise money, and I get to look like a good person.  However, that is not what this fundraiser is.  This is a fundraiser that is raising money and awareness for those who have been oppressed, and then even more importantly it is a fundraiser that is showing God’s heart for the ones left behind and the ones that are forgotten and have been hurt by the world.  

If I were going to focus on doing this fundraiser correctly, then I need to first spend a great deal of time in prayer.  I need to make sure that my heart is in the right place, and that I am pursuing this for the right reasons.  I have tried to be a lot better at spending time in prayer and writing down Dressember as a prayer request before I start the fundraiser.  Then I should spend some more time reading about the issue at hand that I am choosing to fight for because this will help me develop more compassion and a desire for mercy to those who are suffering.  Lastly, I then will be able to act justly and will be able to fight for those who are hurting.  

I hope that all of you can remember the power of Micah 6:8.  This is really a lovely verse and shows the power that God’s spirit can have amongst his people as well as the love that he shares with all of us.  My hope is that when any of us become passionate about an issue in our world, or whenever we are about ready to stand up for our faith, we first remember to pray to the Lord for his strength as well as remember the power of mercy and forgiveness.  Remember, this is something the Lord has shown us as good. 

Interview with Gwen:

I wanted to try something different with this blog post.  My friend and coworker have been on a health journey this last year and a half that also has included a lot of spiritual and emotional health improvement.  This made me realize that we as people can sometimes put ourselves on the back burner.  We can get too busy to work out, eat healthily, spend time journaling, do yoga, go to church, do our devotionals, etc.  We may even spend too much of our time thinking about others that we don’t know how important it is to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others.  

The questions that I asked Gwen and her responses:

1. What made you want to start this health and therefore lifestyle change?

Before I started, I was stressed a lot of the time, and I was very tired.  I felt like I had brain fog.  Then my body started to hurt, so I decided to go to a massage therapist.  This therapist was then the one who talked to me about a new and different health program. This particular program is more nutrition-based, not very time-consuming, or heavy on exercise.  

I was depressed thinking that I would be this tired forever. I didn’t want to continually live this way. I decided to start this program, and it has been a major change, both for my physical health and my mental/emotional health.  

2. What would you say has been your favorite part about this whole health and lifestyle change?

Losing 40 pounds has been great, but overall the mindset change has been the best part.  I have definitely felt less tired and have had more energy.  I have also been given a wonderful opportunity to help others on the same health journey.  I love the opportunity to encourage others and help them be the best that they can be.  

3. What do you believe is the importance of taking care of yourself?

Life can be hard now, or it can be hard later.  As I watched my parents age, I realized that more and more.  I didn’t want to make my life harder when I was older.  I wanted to be able to age with less pain and less fatigue and illness.  It is important to realize that the bad habits that we have now can affect us now, but they can also affect our lives in the future.  Making healthy choices now may seem hard, but they may make the lifestyle we live in the future so much more pleasant.  

4. What do you think is the connection between physical health and spiritual/emotional health?

It is all tied together.  If someone uses a deprivation mindset, then that will be hard on the body.  For example, sometimes when we as people are stressed or anxious, we tend to stress eat. Focusing on your mindset and believing that you can change, makes you also want to focus on stepping out of your comfort zone in all areas.  That is why I have also focused on surrounding myself with positive people, working on personal development, and feeling planted in my faith, which helps me feel grounded. During this same time as I have lost this weight, I have also found a church that has really helped me in my spiritual journey.  

5. What advice would you give to someone afraid to try something new?

1. Dreams die in comfort zones.  When you get comfortable with where you are in life, then you should know that is when you need to push yourself and step farther out of your comfort zone.  

2. If you have failed at something before, then you can always improve and try again.  Just because you failed the first time, does not mean that you will fail the second time.

3. Small changes add up to big results.  Even when those small changes seem hard.  Write down the reasons why you want to change and make those small things happen.  Once those smaller things are done, then you can always conquer those bigger items.  

4. Know that fear is a liar.  Fear is the thing that keeps us from changing and keeps us from trying something new.  However, that fear often tells us that we aren’t good enough to change.  Now that you know it is a liar, hopefully, that will not be the item that stops you from stepping out of your comfort zone.  

I hope that you enjoyed this different style of a blog post from me.  I am so blessed to have so many people in my life that are inspirational and have a lot of insights and ideas to share.  I realize that I need to make more time to really listen and learn from all those that are around me.  Gwen has been an inspiration to me and many others around.  She has really helped a lot of others in their fitness, weight loss, and wellness journey.  It is important to remember to eat healthily and care about the wonderful bodies that God has given us.  

I am going to leave you with two goals or two challenges for this week.  The first is that I want you to find someone that you admire, someone that God has placed in your life, and take time to listen to their story, and ask them some questions.  You don’t have to necessarily interview them as I did, but just ask them some deeper questions.  I knew Gwen before I conducted this interview, but I wanted to understand her story more, so I spent that time.  Then my second challenge is to write down the item that is scaring you.  Write down the thing that you have wanted to try, but haven’t yet.  Write it down and write down the first way that you can start to achieve that goal or item that is out of your comfort zone.  My particular goal is to write a devotional book.  I have had this goal for years, but I require writing down how I can make this happen.  I have started to write the ideas, but now I just need to put in the work.  I have now written it down and told all of you, so I just need to make sure it happens. 

Something to know about me is that I absolutely love flowers.  I love to paint flowers, take pictures of flowers, clothe myself in flowers, and my apartment is filled with flowers, specifically sunflowers.  I love to receive flowers, and I love to give them away.  I own a few plants, and my favorite thing is when the flowers are in bloom.  As spring is approaching, I am seeing the start of more and more flowers, along with the spring colors.  I am anticipating their return.  Something that I have gotten better at since I have started my blog is noticing the items in the world that are in direct correlation to the Christian walk.  Many other followers of the Lord will often go out into nature in order to grow closer to God for this very reason.   One of those direct correlations is the flowers that are blooming.  There are many wonderful characteristics of a flower.  Many of these characteristics, I have found, relate to how our relationships with other people often are and how we should view them with a Christian lens. 

The first is that flowers come after the harsh and cold winter.  After we have had a long wait and a long cold time, there is something beautiful that is approaching.  They come when we need to see them the most, to renew our hope.  Our conversations with others and the time that we spend with them is sometimes the best thing that can come out of a very dark season.  Just like a flower adds a splash of color, conversations, and spending time with loved ones, having a good moment, can add a dash of color to our days that seem long and hard. 

Another characteristic of a flower is that they are small and delicate.  They take care.  This is not something that you can just leave and not take care of.  If you don’t take the time to water them, give them the proper sunlight, and the space or the air to breathe, especially away from harmful items like weeds, then they will suffer and many times die from this environment.  This is also similar to our relationships with others.  If we don’t take the time to create a good environment and take the time to make sure they feel cared for, then our delicate relationship can easily be destroyed.  

On the total opposite spectrum, flowers are attached to plants that have deep roots, especially if they have any hope to survive any amount of time.  The idea is that even though flowers are delicate, when there has been a lot of history or the nutrients developed, then you may have developed a plant that can last a lifetime.  Relationships take time to develop deep roots, but once the roots have been established, they too can last a lifetime. This is something that I need to be reminded of recently.  As a teacher, there are some students that are easier to start a good relationship with right away, and then there are those students that are a bit harder to get along with.  However, each one is important, and every student needs to have time to build trust.  I have been filled with joy recently though, and one of the reasons that I have wanted to write this blog, was that I have grown a lot closer to some students than I was at this point last year with them.  It is wonderful to see the non-fighting and the good conversations when the year previously we would argue almost every week.  

Lastly, just like every flower, every single relationship with every single person is different.  You will never have a relationship the same twice.  Just like every flower has a different design and color, every relationship has different characteristics that make it unique.  You will have your absolute favorites, as I do with sunflowers, but regardless, each one is special and important.  There may be some that I want to ignore, and I may not want to take the time to admire its beauty, and therefore don’t fill it in my life, but then I could be missing out on another necessary beauty.   

Who are some of the flowers that are in your life?  Which are the flowers that are easy to get along with and which are the ones that you really need to deepen?  I know that I need to continually develop the relationships or the flowers with the middle school boys that I have in my middle school study hall.  As a teacher, I know that I should try my best to be an advocate for all my students, but it is so much easier to care for and love only the ones that make my teaching job easier.  I need to remember that the students who may be making my life harder are most likely the ones that need my love and care more than the other students.  This week I am going to take one student that I have been struggling with and write down the positive qualities.  Then I am going to take that time to make sure they know their good qualities.  Even if they don’t want to listen, I know that this may hit deeper than it may initially seem.  

The goal from me to you this week is to pick one person with whom to develop a relationship.  This means carrying about what “food” it may need to flourish, how much water, and what kind of environment it needs.  This will again be different for every single relationship, so it is important to know which each relationship needs. Obviously, this should not be for a relationship that is toxic or is very much detrimental to your mental or physical health, but if there is not that concern, then we have a great opportunity to really fill our lives with a beautiful boutique of flowers.  

The time of year has come when basketball is everywhere, college basketball that is.  It is time for the NCAA championship to be the best basketball team in the land.  I personally am not the biggest follower, but I love watching my friends and family fill out their brackets and then talk about the different games.  I love seeing their joy when they get a game pick right and laugh a little at their slight dismay for being wrong.  I know that all of the people in my life are having fun with this and are not making it a serious guessing game or competition.  

Something that is always fun, though, about the March Madness tournament is the upsets.  There is something that everyone loves to see in watching an underdog take over the game.  It is wonderful to watch a team do a lot better than most people, and even themselves thought possible.  While I was pondering this, I thought about how that is exactly what God does with us.  God was not known for using the highest known people to start revolutions in the Bible.  There were times when he used kings and judges to complete his tasks.  However, he often used a lower cast, out-of-the-blue person to be someone who did great things for his kingdom.  

One of my favorite examples of this is any of the women that Jesus used for his ministry.  When Jesus was alive, there were not a lot of women that had high positions or were hardly ever talked about or talked to.  However, Jesus was very good about making connections and using women to really shape and grow the Christian community.  For example, the first person to see Jesus after he was resurrected from the grave was a woman, Mary Magdalene.  Not only was she a woman, but she was not a prominent woman by society’s standards.  She was not from a rich family and was even considered to be a sinner (by this I mean, someone who was living in sin, possibly prostitution, but we can’t be 100% sure) by everyone who knew her at the time.  

Besides just the Bible references, there are references since that time.  God is still continuing to use the average person to build a Christian world.  I am still continuing to read John Piper’s book, “The Swans are not Silent” or “21 Servants of Sovereign Joy,” which showcases Christian followers who are just average people that have also been used for the glory of God.  One of those is John Bunyan.  Many of you maybe have heard that name in the past because he was actually the writer of the book, “The Pilgrim’s Progress.”  This is one of the most popular books and maybe the most read and popular book besides the Bible in regards to the Christian walk.  However, what many people may not know is that a part of this book was written while he was serving in jail.  Similar to Paul in the Bible, the Lord was using a prisoner to complete his best work.  

It is often important to remember that God wants to do the same thing for us in our lives.  I know that I am just a Spanish teacher.  I live in a small town in Iowa.  I am not what many would call rich (by American standards anyway, by otherworldly standards I am).  I am not a prominent leader in any country.  I am not of high standing.  However, I believe that God has put me in this place for a particular reason.  He has chosen me to be the teacher to the students that I am, and I know that he wants me to put an impact on their lives.  I have also been chosen to work at a nonprofit in the summer, and I absolutely love that opportunity that I have.  

The last thing that I want to mention is the song, “Nobody,” by Casting Crowns and Matthew West.  This song highlights that God does take nobodies and use them for his glory.   The main lyrics are, “I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, all about somebody who saved my soul.”  We are all or should be nobodies that are trying to tell somebody or the world about the only one that matters and that is Jesus Christ.  What are some of the ways that God can use you?  What are some of the blessings that God has given you that can be used to make an impact on the world?  What are some of your gifts that can be used for the future?  Lastly, are you just a nobody that is trying to tell everybody all about Jesus?  I hope that I am.  I think that if Jesus had a March Madness bracket, it would be filled with a lot of underdogs, and that is just a beautiful thing. 

Lately, I hate to admit, I have had a bit of self-pity.  I will have one or two things that go wrong or one or two people that say something wrong, and then I can find myself impacted by these emotions.   As a teacher, I will often say that my job is not always rainbows and butterflies.  I would love to say that it is, but it is often incredibly difficult.  There are so many emotions that are involved when working with young people.  This is in all of elementary, middle, and high school.  In elementary, they are still very, very young and don’t always have a handle on their emotions.  Then in high school, which is where I work, they are going through a lot of changes, and they have a lot of hormones that accompany those emotions and changes. They may whine, complain, get angry quickly, etc.  This often gives me moments where I just don’t know how to best handle a situation.  It can be very hard and draining to range all those emotions all day.  For anyone reading this as a parent, nurse, cashier, etc, you will also completely understand what this is like.  Whenever we work with others, we are also working with their emotions and their behaviors/attitudes that are different from ours.  It is very hard to not let those emotions and their behaviors affect your own emotions.  

This brings me to a Bible verse in 1 Chronicles 16:27, “Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place.”  I had never looked at this verse too closely before, but I really enjoy it because this really showcases that joy and strength go together.  Strength by its very definition means that it is not something that is easy to come by.  It is not something that can be obtained by hardly working on it or by putting in zero time.  In order to achieve physical strength, for example, one needs to lift weights and work out on a regular basis.  You will not see growth in one workout session, similarly, you will not develop a patient joy after one day. This is something that needs to be done diligently.  Not choosing to be impacted by others’ emotions and letting those little frustrations and those complaints of others impact you on a daily basis has to be a decision.  After a lot of work, this can start to become more and more natural, but it will not be something that can just happen.  That has been a hard pill for me to swallow.  I want this to be something that comes naturally.  I want this to be something that I can just set my mind on at the beginning of the day, and it happens without any hard work on my end.  However, that is just not what this is.  

I know there are two things that I need to start doing in order to help me not be as impacted by others’ emotions, behaviors, and attitudes.  The first is the importance of listening to those around us.  When people are really angry, they are most likely really hurt.  I know the times that I am the angriest myself are the times that I have actually been hurt.  The phrase is very true when it says that “hurt people, hurt people.”  Since I do work with high and middle schoolers, I know that they are in the most hurt section of their life.  I need to remember to be the most empathetic with them as they may be the ones who need the most patience and grace.  Being willing to see them as hurt may remind me to actually care and love them, as opposed to getting angry with them.  

The second thing that I need to take into account is to have a calming presence.  This is the part that I struggle with.  It can be very easy, and I mean VERY easy to hype up a situation once it is starting to go in that direction.  This happens all the time, and we often even watch it happen on our television screens or on social media. If you ever enjoy watching a reality television show, then you know that the minute someone starts yelling, then another person yells, and a third, and maybe a fourth.  Then it can also easily be followed by swinging of arms or kicking of legs (depending on how violent and heated these particular fights get).  When a situation gets heated and heightened, it can be very, very hard to bring it down to a level that is workable.  I will say that being a teacher for three years has helped a lot, and I have definitely found moments to be more calming this past year as opposed to my first year.  Learning when to not fight a situation or to not yell has definitely been a game-changer while working with students.  However, praying for the Lord for peace in those moments is definitely the most impactful.  

The Lord is really the one in control of all these things, however,  The Lord is the one who will help you achieve the good and the growth in this area.  This can not be done by pure willpower.  The Lord wants to help us achieve this goal of having lifelong peace, compassion, and joy.  However, he wants us to achieve this in order to make himself look holy, not for us to look holy.  This is why it is more and more important that we depend on the Lord and then look to achieve that joy for a good inspiration for other believers and future followers of Christ.  Our calm, God-centered demeanor may just be the thing that sells a lot of people to the Christian lifestyle.   

Once every month or every other month, I work in preschool during church.  In one of the more recent times, I got the chance to do my favorite thing in preschool, and this is to read books to some of the kids that are in there.  I had a small group who wanted to sit really close to me and listen to me read a whole bunch of small books.  It is amazing how sometimes the smallest and the simplest things can make you realize how much God loves you, how important forgiveness is, and how we need to be grateful for everything the Lord has made.

For example this day I read the book, “The Runaway Bunny,” by Margaret Wise Brown.  I had never read this book before.  This book is all about a bunny who tells his mom that he is going to run away.  Every time he tells her how he is going to run away, his mom tells him how she is going to follow him and bring him back to her.  One time, he says that he will become a fish, and she said that she would become a fisherman who fishes him out of the water and brings him back to her.  The book goes on and on, and eventually, the bunny decides to stay with his mom where he belongs.  This story was beautiful.  The love this mom has for her son was lovely to read about in this small book.  

This book, obviously, really showed that God always comes and finds us.  The mother had unconditional love for the bunny.  She wanted him to be safe and to feel loved, even though he was being ungrateful at the moment.  The Lord never wants us to be away from him.  Even though we are constantly running away from the Lord and we are constantly getting distracted, we are still being searched out by the Lord.  There are many references in the Bible to the Lord coming back for his people.  One is in the Old Testament and that is the story of Hosea and his wife, and the second one is in the New Testament with the story of the Prodigal Son.  

I think a great example of this in the Bible is the story of Hosea.  He was a prophet who was actually married to a prostitute and she did not remain faithful.  She would often run away from her husband.  Even though Hosea was angry, he was always told by God to go after his wife and return her.  He was told to continually forgive his wife, even though she had done wrong by him.  The Lord kept telling Hosea to love his wife, even though it must have been incredibly challenging. At the same time, this is happening to Hosea in his personal life, the book of Hosea follows the up and down of the relationship the Israelites have with the Lord.  The Lord was also working in the hearts of the Israelites to get them to come back to Him as opposed to straying away and continually falling in sin.    

Another great example is the beloved story of the Prodigal son.  The prodigal son is a classic story of unconditional love and belonging.  A younger son ran away from home and decided to take his inheritance money and spend it any way he desired which ended up leaving him poor, with no food, water, shelter, etc.  However, he then decided to go back to his father’s house to at least be a servant.  His father had been very rich and had a lot of servants, food, water, nice clothes, and a huge house.  He returned home, and his father was filled with joy.  He threw a grand party.  He hugged him and gave him the best clothes.  He had unconditional love for his son, who was never begotten, just like the mother bunny in the story that I read to the preschool students.  The Lord wants to chase you, feed you, clothe you, and make sure that you are safe and protected.  

I think the Lord chases us in the big moments and in the small moments.  I know, for myself, personally, I have been chased with bigger items like a job opportunity at the Bridge in Storm Lake.  Even though I was a Christian, I wasn’t always living my life to the fullest when it came to the love of the Lord.  Then I found the job at the Bridge, and I knew that this opportunity would bring me closer to the Lord and closer to fellowship.  God has also chased me in the small items like simple conversations with students and coworkers, and even through small inspirational moments that remind me to write in my blog or in my journal.  

Lastly, this all reminds me of Romans 8:34, which says “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”  Jesus intercedes for us.  He majorly interceded for us when he died on the cross for our sins.  Then he continually intercedes for us throughout our lives.  He is talking to the Lord and is working out his plans throughout his people and the items in the world.  Let him work in your life.  Let him take the wonderful small moments, and the amazing big moments and use them for his glory.  Let him intercede and chase after you.  Maybe through this reminder, he won’t have to chase after very hard because you will be chasing him just as well.