Perspective.

Perspective really is everything, isn't it?!  

As of late, I have been fighting discouragement as I face long days and lots of challenges.  My job is really, really important to me.  I need time and opportunity in my life to invest in others, to demonstrate unconditional love and to be loved in return.  The truth of the matter is, my job is one of the safest and most consistent places where I know I am valued.   Kids can't hide how important adults are to them, and I can't pretend like they aren't equally as important to me.  To me, teaching special ed is about overcoming challenges for the sake of relationship.   I wake up everyday with a need to accommodate, advocate and redirect.  If my floundering state over the summer was any indication, I feel the freedom to confess that I  don't know what I would do if I wasn't doing this.  And yet, I've been fighting discouragement. 

As I was wrapping up my evening and winding down for bed, I stumbled across the post below, which for some reason was never published last year.  It echos many of the feelings I have today, which brings me to a new place of perspective.  Life moves forward, but the battles we fight are both temporary and necessary.  I am coming to believe that success is hardly ever realized without suffering. Even if I started last year discouraged, I did not end the school year that way, which means that even this discouragement will pass.    

Today I was thinking about how most Americans could classify their jobs as "high stress" because of the pressure, pace, demands, responsibility and expectations tied to employment.   Although our respective professions are hard in their own ways, the common denominator linking us as working people is stress.

Lately I have been fighting discouragement due to an overarching lack of grace from my peers.  Because my job is dynamic, demanding, fragile and new I face inevitable failures each and everyday.   Because of the newness of everything, I have to offer a lot of grace to myself.   I have found that the real challenge is holding onto that grace in the face of someone else compounding the little failures of the day with strong opinions of how things should have gone, or calling attention to the things I didn't do.   While I am still working on the strategies I need to be a generous giver of grace to myself and others, it's good to remember that in Gods economy, there is no condemnation because I am in Christ Jesus.