Small and Simple Things




 Sometimes I fail to appreciate the simplicity of simple truths. 

Like "And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things." 1 Ne 16:29

Tonight I was walking out the door from work when I was reminded I had agreed to provide childcare for the PTO meeting tonight. 

I genuinely didn't mind but I was tired.  I was thinking some rest would be just the ticket.  Or maybe a mind numbing couple of hours of Netflix. 

But I  made a few phone calls on my way to pick up Ella and got her to her event.

Then with 40 minutes to spare I stopped to visit with a friend who is battling cancer and who in spite of her chemo treatment today laughed with me as we connected and encouraged one another. 

I decided I had earned (it doesn't take much for me!) a milkshake and pulled through the drive thru and got dinner and a raspberry milkshake.  Only it was obviously the kid's first or second day at most and he struggled with my order.  As I pulled away I realized the cup didn't feel like a milkshake.  This kid apparently thought I ordered a raspberry root beer!!🤢. Which is a nasty combination but I silently thanked him for saving me 1100 calories and headed back to the school.  

And then the real magic began.  I played stack and knock down the towers for 30 minutes with one of my kindergartener special needs friends. I had a third grader excitedly share with me what she remembered me teaching her class.  I taught a first grader to play a new game.  

Then I had one of my favorite five year old friends ask me to read her a story.  "En español, por favor."

Her big brown eyes ("just like yours  Mrs Potter!) lit up as she handed me the book and then scrambled up onto my lap and wiggled her self into a comfy position.  The book "the creepy pair of underwear" had her giggling wildly as the bunny character kept trying to get rid of the creepy glowing underwear but they kept resurfacing.  Her giggles refilled me in a way Netflix just can't do.  


And a new generation of parents were able to step up to the plate and bring their enthusiasm and perspective to our school.  


When we lose our life we gain it.  Small and simple things.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trust

Image
  As I was riding a bike down the former train route along the Idaho-Montana border, I had hours to quietly reflect and appreciate the lush mountain landscape extending around me as far as I could see.   I was in a prayerful state, open to the promptings of the Spirit.   At one point I came to the edge of a meadow and needed to sit and rest for a bit.   There I found a lovely rustic bench made from a tree right there in the forest.  And it occurred to me how often the things we need are right there in our lives around us. The people, the resources, our talents and gifts. Psalm 34:8 lovingly promises “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him”. He will provide.   And as we learn to recognize that help, we will become more grateful and happy. 
Read more

Pancake Stirrers

Image
 Have you ever found yourself super upset over a rather simple offense? Generally when that happens it is actually due to much more than that incident.   It is likely just that incident that was the last straw, or used up your final bit of patience. Yesterday I had a student come to my room absolutely outraged.   She has a significant trauma history and so has learned to fight at all costs. Her counselors and our staff are working to help her build some new, more effective ways of dealing with frustration and confrontation. In this instance her role in her culinary arts class was to stir the pancake batter.   Only someone else did and her immediate reaction was to want to fight her. She knew that wasn’t appropriate so walked out and came to my room. After she had vented and calmed down, we talked through it.   Humor is a very effective tool for her so after gauging her body language I simply asked, “Are you going to let your whole day be ruined because someone else stirred the pancakes
Read more

Entitlement

Image
  As we stopped to get family donuts this morning, the sign in the restroom caught my eye. “Please be considerate of others and clean up any messes you may have left.” It reminded me of a sharp contrast I observed several years ago.  As a young class visited the restroom, a student balled up their paper towel and attempted to toss it into the trash can from across the room. He missed and went over to pick up the paper. His teacher immediately stopped him and commented, “Oh you don’t need to pick that up, that’s what we have janitors for.” What a missed opportunity. The child had naturally felt responsibility for his own actions and had tried to pick up his mess. Yet instead of helping cement that foundation of personal accountability, the teacher had reinforced entitlement and laziness. This same attitude is increasingly prevalent in society today.   It sounds like “Why should I have to?”, “Someone else will do it” or “It’s not my job”. Elder Dallin H Oaks stated, “The values of the wo
Read more