Stronger Through Him

 

  Twice last week, I was at school working late events. Afterward I returned to my classroom to get my coat and found to my dismay that I had left my door unlocked and my Christmas tree plugged in. Visions of frowny face stickers from the district energy efficiency monitor came to mind and both times I chided myself for being forgetful and unplugged the tree and locked up. Tonight, after working concessions for Junior High basketball, I once again stopped by my room for my coat and once again the tree was aglow and my room was open! I may be getting a bit more forgetful but I was absolutely certain I had double checked them before I left today. Puzzled, I looked down the hallway where the night janitor was vacuuming.  She smiled and thanked me for taking the time to put up the tree.   “A little holiday spirit goes a long way!” She has been enjoying my tree each night while she works.  That made me smile, and not just because it meant I am not crazy. President Thomas ...

  https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1X2bXWntRV/?mibextid=wwXIfr This is an inspirational Christmas message my daughter inspired me with today. 

  Yesterday I woke up to find that I had missed a 1 AM phone call from a coworker. A deep pang of concern flowed through my body as I quickly reached out for more information. An email from our principal came through stating we needed an impromptu staff meeting following a tragedy. Individual faces of students began to flash through my mind as I quickly threw on my favorite GHS T-shirt, and stood there desperately wondering what I needed to do. I knew that regardless of what the tragedy was, I would be a part of the response. I offered a quick prayer, took a deep breath and asked George to give me a blessing. He did, and I headed to school, where I learned which student had died unexpectedly. I spent a long and hard and terrible and yet tender and beautiful day working alongside many others and watching people take action in so many ways. Administrators from other schools showed up to help with our lunch and lobby duties. Teachers who were not familiar with the s...

 It is true.   We are all teachers and students. We cannot choose to not be a teacher to those around us. We can only choose what it is we teach. President Colleen K Menlove  cautioned, “Children are always learning from us. They are learning what is important by what we choose to do as well as what we choose not to do.” We cannot choose to not be a student because we are always learning. We can, however to at least a degree, choose the environment in which we are learning. We can choose who we look to to follow. We can choose the effort we will put into our learning process.  Sister Aileen H Clyde gave this wise counsel to consider.  She said that when we have learning experiences, it “becomes easier to identify the ways we have become prone to routine, allowing comfortable habits to insulate us from using our minds with spiritual power to see “a more excellent way”. Yikes.   Do some of my routines insulate me from accessing my spiritual power? Which of t...

 Just a beautiful reminder I came across today. This is my clipboard from last year with a note a student gave me.   Romans 5:8 reminds “But God commandeth his love toward us, in that, while we were sinners, Christ died for us.” This is so very clear. Jesus Christ loves us BEFORE we ever got things right. In the mess. In the middle. You are loved!