Since I was in grade nine, I’ve worked with kids in all facets whether it was teaching Sunday School, summer Bible clubs, and Vacation Bible Schools; serving in Juvenile Detention Centers and Girls’ Homes; or teaching in the high school classroom and youth group. 

Sure, I’ve done lots of other things such as:

A Big Heart For Kids

I should have known.  It all came full circle when it came time to teach my daughter how to read.  At the time, I was also able to help some home schooling friends whose kids needed a little extra reading help.  It was like fireworks went off in my heart.  I realized that teaching, working with kids, and speaking life was at my core, through and through, my purpose in life.

So here I am.  I’m probably sipping a vanilla hazelnut coffee and scheming up ways to help today’s tutoring students love learning again.  Or researching the peoples of Ancient Rome to teach to my kids later this morning.  Or thinking about you and how you can speak life to your kids (and your husband) instead of nagging them.

The Moments

You want to know what lights me up?  Helping kids believe in themselves when all around them they hear, “You can’t do it.  You’re not good enough.  It’s too hard.”  Letting the mamas and teachers around me know that while all the stuff looks and feels like chaos sometimes, life is all about the moments.  It’s not in the doing, it’s in the being.  Being present in the moment.   Being intentional about looking a child in the eyes when they talk.  Realizing that parenting and teaching isn’t about the frustration of the moment (while there can sometimes be a lot of that!).  It’s about the future and who the child or student right in front of us has the potential to become.  It’s about not walking away from the moment until life is spoken over the child even in the midst of needing to teach and to correct.

If I can be the voice of truth speaking life that says, “Child, I see greatness in you!” “Mama, you’ve got this!”  “Daddy, you are faithful!” “Teacher, you are making a difference in your students’ lives!”….then the fireworks keep lighting up my heart.  I am for you!