Chapel

After thirty-one years in the public schools, I retired and went to work in a private Christian school. It is a wonderful place to work and I feel so fortunate to be working in such a sweet, loving environment.  The administration actually cares about the students and my Principal knows every student by name. Unfortunately, like all humans, I have those days when I feel like I got up on "the wrong side of the bed".

I remember one day this school year when I woke up late, realized I didn't have anything to eat for breakfast and found that just about all of my pants were too tight. I  got so desperate as I was trying on pair after pair that I even thought about resorting to grabbing a rubber band so I could "extend" the waistline on one. By the time I finally found a pair that fit, I had a neat little pile of clothes at my feet. I flew out the door and barely made it to school on time. Living in the country, a pig truck whose speedometer must not go beyond ten miles per hour chose this particular morning to pull out in front of me. Listening to the harmony of all those little porkers for fifteen minutes while the truck literally crawled down the highway did nothing to improve my disposition.

When I finally walked into my classroom two minutes before I was supposed to be there, I breathed a sigh of relief. One of my sweet little girls came skipping through the door at about that time and gave me a funny stare. She then  innocently asked me if I forgot to put my face on that morning. I tripped over a backpack laying in the middle of the floor as I turned back to stare at my face in the reflection of the glass partition on my door.

Before I knew it, it was time to head to Chapel. We always have Chapel on Wednesday mornings. I sat there waiting for the service to start and having a  regular pity party in my thoughts.  I was brooding about gaining too much weight, the fact that my husband was laid off from his job, my toe  aching from tripping over the backpack,etc. etc. etc. All of a sudden, the student sitting beside me looked up at me with his big brown eyes, smiled, and whispered "I love you!" My bad mood dissolved with that precious child's words.

I said a silent prayer and thanked God for the nudge. Life is so precious and I am so blessed to be teaching young children!