“The end of a thing is better than
its beginning (Ecclesiastes 7:8a).” I think every senior
preparing to graduate understands what Solomon meant when he penned those
words.
Then again, every teacher has a healthy sense of
appreciation as well.
Year-in-review
Looking back over my first year teaching is something of
a blur for me. At times, I felt as though I were crawling along in
survival-only mode, but now, the year is almost behind me. At other times, it raced
by with activities and accomplishments. For better or worse, I jumped in and gave teaching everything I
could.
Whether we scrape our hands and knees across the finish line
or effortlessly breeze past it, we finish. We have to finish.
But how we finish
is up to us.
This Sunday, my church choir will be singing a song called “Finish
Well,” and the words of the chorus summarize what I mean better than I could.
“Finish well, every day that we are given,
Finish well, for the glory of His Name.
Finish strong until the Savior finally calls us home.
Give it everything we have.
Finish well.”
Finish well
But what does that mean? Some people think finishing well means straight A’s.
Others might think it means first place. Although both are worthy achievements,
I think finishing strong means something more.
I wish I could tell you my first year teaching was
storybook perfect, but it has quite frankly been anything but – complete with
mistakes I’ve learned from (hopefully) and mixed together with
drama I could definitely have done without.
Regardless, finishing strong means we did our best. Beyond that, it means we did our best with an attitude that pleased God.
And whether or not that's the case is a question each one of us has to answer for ourselves.
Tassel-turning
moments
Although we only move the tassel for one, two, or maybe three literal
graduations, life is full of tassel-turning moments. Whether we’re students or teachers,
surgeons or stay-at-home moms, chemists or cashiers, we all face choices and
challenges – where we must decide to press on even when we don’t feel like
getting out of bed.
We don’t march to "Pomp and Circumstance" when we rise to the
occasion. We don’t receive a gold-trimmed diploma. (In fact, no one may ever
recognize our efforts or appreciate them.)
But those defining moments are God’s way of strengthening
our character, graduating us to a new level of spiritual maturity, and teaching
us that when we do our best to glorify Him, our work is never in vain.
Last week, I realized the power of a thank you. It was
teacher appreciation week, and in the midst of some student drama, one of my
seventh graders gave me a note that said, “Thank you for being… an amazing
teacher!”
