Your words matter.
Your actions matter.
Your attitude matters.
It all matters.
I recently had dinner with a very sweet former student. She will occasionally invite me to dinner when she comes in town. We laugh and share memories. We talk of dreams and family and faith. We confess fears and worries. She will tell me how much she appreciates me, and I assure her the feeling is mutual. I love who this young lady has become and I love the fact that we can sit and chat for hours, especially since our initial connection was a teacher-student relationship twenty-five years ago. Woah!
When I am asked about my favorite thing about being a teacher, I always give the same answer. I love the interaction with my students; I love teaching others how to write effectively and the love of reading. I love the reactions of the students when they feel successful, and I love the quirkiness and the genuine conversations. I love that no two years or days or classes are the same.
But the thing I love the most is not the immediate effect of my teaching or my interactions, it’s when I see how my former students are continuing to blossom. When I see them years later and see who they have become.
When you see someone working behind a counter at a fast-food restaurant asking for your order, I see the student who was so shy that she struggled to speak to any of her peers in class.
When you see a city employee who is helping his community, I see a student who worked so hard to pass his classes.
When you see a professional assisting you with the important decisions, I see someone who pushed the limits and was always questioning the rules.
When you see a young woman shopping with her babies, I see the child who was living in pain after losing someone important.
When you see successful adults, I see children who had teachers and coaches, parents and family, mentors and friends who poured into them.
And what a blessing to be one of the people who had a small part of who these kids grow up to be. When I have the opportunity to see former students, either by chance or by plan, God blesses me with a chance to see their perseverance paying off, a chance to see how confident – responsible-caring–hardworking-polite-creative-mature they are, a chance to see the person they are becoming. I can’t explain the joy and the comfort knowing that they are well and they are thriving. And I know, even though a lot of those teaching days were tough, my efforts mattered, the smallest and the greatest.
We don’t always see our blood, sweat, and tears come to fruition right away, and sometimes not at all, but we have to believe it makes a difference! And, what a blessing it is!!
So, if you work with young people, at any level-to any degree…. teacher, coach, mentor, and yes, even parent….I want to encourage you today! Those of you getting ready to start school, those of you volunteering for summer programming, those of you wondering if any of it is worth it…LISTEN UP!
The enemy is at work in our children’s lives, and the enemy wants you to think your energy will be wasted or won’t be of any importance. But, I want you to know that God has placed you in those young people’s lives for a reason. And it’s more than their knowing where to put the apostrophe or achieving a goal; it’s about pouring into pieces of them that will all come together one day to make them the person who will continue to do amazing things long after you taught them, mentored them, led them. The person God created them to be.
Let me remind you that when you are working for the Lord, you will be blessed. Even if you don’t see it today or tomorrow, just know that it all matters. Your words matter. Your actions matter. Your attitude matters. Your work matters. You matter!
***If you are on the other side of this today…. If you are thinking about a person who poured into you, a person who mattered to you, a person God put into your life to lead you, do me a favor and reach out to them. Let them know it mattered!
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 (NIV)