Blessings

It’s the last hours before the last day of the year. Craziness. This year has flown by! So many things have transpired this year that will escape my memory. I have met so many people that have had an impression on my heart and life. Some of those people that have popped into my life will, I believe, be lifelong friends. SO many blessings have rained down on me from God, and only from Him. It amazes me how many things have happened in my life that God has given when I don’t deserve one small part of them. God has been good this year.

My photography has taken off, and I love it. Being with my camera, snapping small moments in time is such a rush for me. It is in those small moments that I feel free to be me; I can see the world through my lens and allow everyone to view the photo in their own eyes. And making a little money doing it, isn’t so bad either-though that is most definitely not the reason why I use my camera. God has given me some small amount of talent through photography and want to use it. He gives each of us something special to use for His glory, and what right do we have NOT to use it? My prayer for 2011 is for God to use my talents more for Him. Eventually I would like to take a few photography classes to hone my little amount of skills, but that is in the future.

I will graduate in 6 months. Wow. For some, this may not be a big deal-but for me, this is huge. I will be the first in my family to graduate with a bachelors degree. I have worked hard to get here and it has not been an easy road. Some may say that English Education is not a profession that is worth getting excited over at graduation, but I pose a question- have YOU tried teaching a group of students where some have no desire to learn? Where some do not see the importance of reading? Where some do not like you for any apparent reason? Where you must help the group achieve good scores on standardized testing? Have you tried making a lesson plan from scratch that was successful (trust me..this is hard…and successful is incredibly arbitrary haha) ? Have you seen the effects of rough home lives, drugs, alcohol, bullying, and death on teenagers? I challenge you to think about people as an individual as you look at them. This is the role of a good teacher. Children are the future, and teachers share the immense burden of equipping the future with knowledge. I want nothing more than to be a good teacher. This will mean that sometimes I will not be popular. This means that doing the right thing will not always be the most liked thing. Sometimes I will stand alone. But I am prepared to do so. God is always near, and I pray that He is always included in my classroom. I covet your prayers as I continue my journey through these last months, and as I (hopefully) begin grad school in July. Yet another gift which God has blessed me with is the passion for teaching, and even thinking about a future classroom gives me butterflies. I am so excited, yet so incredibly scared to be on this adventure.

I have innumerable weaknesses, yet God has his hand on my life, and his spirit lives within me. I am so very thankful for a family that loves me, and being raised in a wonderful Christian home. I have been in church since 9mos before I was born, and was saved by the amazing grace of God at a young age. I am so incredibly blessed, yet I do not deserve them. This is the ultimate example of God’s grace-receiving something I do not deserve.

I am indecisive. I am not beautiful. I have a temper that sometimes gets me into trouble. I have an attitude that comes out when my temper is starting to show. Sometimes I do not show kindness to people. When I get tired, I am short with people. I am not thin. I am easily annoyed with stupid people. My patience sometimes wears thin. I do not tell of God’s saving grace to enough people. I do not read my Bible enough. My weaknesses outweigh my strengths, and these are a few of the things I wish to change in this upcoming year. With God as my guide, and the reason for my existence, I wish to give Him all the glory for the strengths which I possess. In my weakness I am made strong through Him.

I wish all of you a Happy New Year, and may God bless you in this new beginning. Don’t forget to stop and breathe every so often: take in the beauty of the things around you- a child’s smile, a couple in love, the silent company of a good friend, the smell of the rain or snow, the color of the sky, the song in your own heart.