What Was I Thinking?

And so it begins... By my count, there are sixteen and one-half days of school before the Christmas break if I include today. These are some of the most challenging days to teach for any teacher, the stretch from Thanksgiving break to Christmas break, because the peppermint and evergreen scent of the next big holiday grows stronger and stronger as the day draws nearer, and that aroma energizes children and can cloud their minds. May God help us if the skies should open and bestow upon us a blanket of snow, no matter how thin or temporary. The elementary students are in rehearsals for the Christmas musical. This year's production will be something called, "Aaron, the Allergic Shepherd" and it should be amusing since Aaron is allergic to wool. We have some wonderful singers and actors in the elementary grades, so I anticipate a great performance which will usher in the presence of God as only the youngest among us can do. This season also means it is time to onc...

Bless me, Readers, for I have procrastinated. It has been two weeks since my last posting. Forgive me for the confessional allusion. The weather has turned cold again today. My hands are still cold from the time I spent out on sidewalk duty this morning before school. Perhaps some typing will warm them up a bit. I am really looking forward to the Thanksgiving break. One of the perqs of working in schools is the break time you get around certain holidays. Believe me, school folks need those breaks and I think the students need a break from their teachers too. We all need to come away and rest a while, renew our strength, and get over colds and other winter maladies.   I remember being in school and learning about the pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving with the Native Americans. I remember tracing the outline of my hand, making the thumb look like a turkey's head and coloring the four fingers different colors to look like the turkey's feathers, making something that looke...

Please pray for our staff and students now that cold and flu season has come upon us. Paula Lange is out sick for the second day, and others of us are sniffling, sneezing, coughing, and wheezing, held together by cold medication, perseverance, and prayer. I woke up this morning with the sore throat and wobbly legs that usually presages a bout with a virus, but I decided that I had to come to school if only to be part of our elementary chapel skit this afternoon. I missed being in the Encouragement skit I wrote for last week's chapel, so I especially want to be here for the one on Forgiveness today. Forgiveness was the topic of a message spoken by Pastor Schaller a few Sundays ago, and it seems as though I have been learning it ever since. My blithe statement that I forgive others easily was put to the test later that week as I stewed over something someone had done that really bothered me; I kept my hurt to myself and couldn't seem to let it go. Eventually I did, and all is...