Teachers

  "The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth." --Dan Rather

Every moment I have with students is a crucial one.

I have the chance to inspire or cut them down,

to open eyes to potential or dim them with shortcomings,

to help them see their uniqueness or make them feel they don’t belong.

I must choose whether

to react in anger or respond with gentleness,

to raise my voice in frustration or speak with conviction and truth,

perhaps in contradiction to their belief: "You can do this. Let me help."

The teacher must decide to find a new way

if the other is not working,

and try again and again and again...

A teacher’s job is different from any other

because, in order to be effective, it requires

the teacher to get buy-in, not compliance.

Teachers are not “bosses” who can just give orders,

for students will not learn from someone they do not like

or from someone they think does not like them.

Teachers must have compassion and love

for those they teach,

and an insatiable desire to

not only fill a head with knowledge

and equip hands with skills,

but even more so,

to enlighten, to empower,

light a fire within

to learn and grow and

change the world.

That’s what teachers are for.

Where I'm From

I am from the journals I wrote in almost every night.

From Korn Kurls and Coppertone.

I am from the twenty-two different homes I've lived in,

including the house at the end of the road with the line of Spruce trees in front—

the warm home painted blue with red doors and red brick.

I am from the tree I sat and read books in as a child, looking out over the wetlands behind,

and from the giant red oak tree in my backyard, begging to hold a treehouse for my kids.

I’m from pumpkin patches, Christmas trees and carols, laughter, movies, and games.

From Stuebes, Simantels, Dad’s adoption, and marriage.

From wagging black labs and a golden retriever, and cats that curl up on my lap.

I’m from the exploring of new places and sitting in coffee shops, chatting about life’s mysteries.

I am from “serve one another in love” and “love your neighbor as yourself.”

I'm from Christianity, from a Lutheran Reverend to Charismatic Revival and the in-between.

I’m from Forest Grove, Oregon, and a birth center that no longer exists.

I’m from Hillsboro and saying “Hi” to Harvey, the perpetually-waving rabbit-man;

from rejoicing in the reunion of the A&W family by the pool;

and from watching the carving of the Indian Chief who stands decaying in the park, soon to be brought down.

I am from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany— from lines on my Ancestry.com family tree.

I’m from Veracruz, Mexico— from tacos al pastor, music on decorated buses, whitewashed palm trees, morning downpours, and heat, heat, heat.

I’m from German pancakes, pizza, and ice-cream.

From camping trips, forest hikes, the Oregon Coast— places like Haystack Rock, Hug Point, the Octopus Tree, the Oceanside tunnel, and new discoveries, like University Falls.

I’m from the time I was left at Burger King— and a Kids’ Meal and crown were bestowed upon me, I was shown to the "government's quarters," and employees served as my companions-in-waiting.

From talks on road trips while children sleep.

From the separation and closeness of family.

From shouts, inside jokes, and movie quotes.

I am from photo albums on the shelf full of memories

and the digital images stored in a cloud,

preserving for future generations—new growth on the old trees—

some of the best moments of our lives.

Based on the following template and original poem by George Ella Lyon found at: http://www.sausd.us/cms/lib5/CA01000471/Centricity/Domain/3043/I%20Am%20From%20Poem.pdf

Dreams

"Dream big." "Chase after your dreams." What other catch-phrases are out there? We might use the words "vision" or "purpose" instead, but really they all point to this idea that most of us want to have a bigger reason to be here, not just to breathe air, eat, sleep, and die.

A pastor recently talked about first making sure those are God’s dreams for us, not our own. And I agree. But, even before that, consider— is GOD your dream? When people are in love, oftentimes all they really want is the other person with them. That person is the dream. If we are truly in love with Jesus, then He should be all we want...if He is our dream, then He will also be the One to give us dreams to pursue and to achieve, for Him. As Psalm 37:4 tells us, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” As we delight in Him, His desires become ours.

In Luke 10, we read about the sisters Mary and Martha. Martha may have had a dream to follow Jesus; she certainly was fulfilling the dream of serving Him! Yet she was not satisfied— as none of us will be if we pursue our dreams and even accomplish them, apart from Him. We may even wonder if we should have chased after those dreams in the first place. We may compare our accomplishments with others and believe we’ve come up short, or we may feel resentful that others are not helping us achieve our dreams, as Martha acted toward Mary.

Mary, on the other hand, made Christ her dream. She sat at His feet and listened to Him, learned from Him, dwelled in His presence. Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (v. 42 NIV).

So, how do we make sure our dreams are from God? We actually don’t start with that question. First, we must ask ourselves if HE is our dream. We walk with Him, talk with Him, spend time in His Word, and let Him speak to us through His Holy Spirit. He must pour His Spirit into us: "’In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams’” (Acts 2:17). As “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) in Him, then we can dream His Dream and begin to live it out.

Make the Dream-Maker your All-in-All, your Dream, and the dreams, the purpose He has for you, will be there, waiting for you.