Today is the 181^st day of 2013, the end of the sixth month of the year and early summer. As you look back on what you planned at the end of 2012 have you checked some things off your To Do list? So far the challenge for me has not been so much keeping to my list, although I still have not reached all of my goals, my greater challenge has come from unforeseen tasks that have been added to my list unexpectedly and generally absent of my consent.

This has been an extremely intense six-month period for me. I have found myself looking for more patience and understanding. Interestingly in the process I have found more of both. I have learned to laugh more and cry less. My trek over the past half year seems more like a few years of a mountainous climb.  While the outcomes I focused on in late December have not completely manifested I am finding varied new constructive undertakings that consume my focus.

How are things in your neck of the woods? When you look back over the past 180 days have you virtually gone around the world a few times too?

One-hundred and eighty days is roughly the length of instructional days of attendance on a typical academic calendar for students in grades kindergarten through twelve. In that time, from about mid-September until June of the following year a student can transition from one unable to hold a pencil or recognize any letters in their own name, to a proficient reader with good penmanship. They are exposed to a new world on a school campus, which allows them to interact with diversity they may not have known existed. They meet kind and loving people. They meet inconsiderate, self-centered individuals too. They learn more about their personal strengths and they experience cruel expressions of anger and hate. They have their eyes opened to many genuine smiling faces along with duplicitous disguises.  So much can happen in that number of days.

As I look back on my journey I have learned a tremendous amount, mostly about myself. In the book of James we find this piece of extremely useful information in chapter one verses two through four: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (The Message Version) Hum…joy, perseverance, mature and complete.

It is useful to reflect on our journeys, sometimes when we are in the middle of tests of our faith our focus falls upon the work at hand, the arduous work at hand.

Imagine the kindergarten student unable to hold a pencil, gazing at numerous squiggly lines, (that seem to have been made by an earthworm as it moved across paper dowsed with black ink), trying to make sense of the words squiggles symbolize. I suspect the students are not gleefully thinking, “These codes are useful. When I am able to master them I can engage in expanded communication and broaden my knowledge. I will be able to unlock the treasures contained in countless books!” Nor do I speculate that somehow they comprehend that each new experience they engage in has a purpose or that their very lives have a purpose, more than self-indulgence.

What makes us different from those five or six year olds? Do we see that there is a purpose greater than our individual bumps in the road? When our focus drifts to why me, why now or when will this end, do we quickly redirect and look to the bigger purpose? Do we understand that we have an impact on others? Do we recognize that we have significance? Can we focus on now, examining the past while planning for the future?

If youngsters in the primary grades could fathom their inherent gifts and the positive impact the capabilities they carry can have, would they be positively motivated in school? As adults do we behave in a more mature manner or do we pout, sulk, see the glass as less than half empty and bypass the vital big picture?

We all have choices. As I review what I have learned over the first half of this new academic year, in my classroom without walls, I recognize that God (THE Best Special Needs Teacher) has designed the curriculum to meet me at my point of need. I have been made in His image and fully equipped to handle the lessons in my learner focused course of study. As I master the material on level one it is accelerated, at a pace that I can handle with the assistance available to me. The curriculum is across many topics with a foundation of love. Sometimes that looks like the divine hand of an omnipotent God, loving me. At times it may feel like a chastising nudge from a shepherd’s staff. On occasion it is the encouragement of a classmate as we work in small groups. When I maturely examine my relationship with God it is based on His love for me, and my response to that love, including my innate ability to evaluate my journey and realign my steps. Being happy and living life as a conqueror rather than a victim is a choice. (See Romans 8:37 and John 10:10)

In return, my life, my purpose and the sum total of all that I am is to love and glorify Him. On my best days I clearly get that, in high definition. Yet being in the flesh I can find myself in some moments where I would rather be in a climate, controlled aquatic center floating on my back rather than on the track at the treeless athletic field completing required extra laps. My focus isn’t always mature nor is my gaze always heavenly. As I reflect I am able to make changes, redirect my focus, and renew my mind, glory to God! So as I replay the past six months I choose to look at the lessons learned and the progress as reported to me by my guide, maker and learning facilitator.

Sit down and review your progress report. Take Inventory and Take Action. Celebrate your proficiencies and passing grades. Then maintain your achievement and plan to put more effort in the areas where you need to improve, as I will.

Love,

Deborah

“Lighting the path to loving your neighbor as yourself.”