Being Significant

I'm going to blow off a little steam here...but it's another good life lesson. (Sorry it's long.)

I took the day off yesterday. As excited as I am about my upcoming teaching job, I know that there will be no more days off for quite a while. Oh sure, there are the weekends...but those don't always count as there is house cleaning, laundry, errands, shopping, and until the year gets really going...lesson plans, grading papers, reading, etc. So, I just wanted a day to do whatever I wanted to do. The first goal was to sleep in. I haven't laid in bed past 8 am for so long...just wanted to lay there for awhile.

However, since I told room-mate and her boyfriend about my day off plans as they were opening their second bottle of wine, I guess they didn't hear me. At 7:30 am room-mate knocked on my door...afraid I had slept in. I probably could have gone back to sleep, but Sammi (our dog) was up then and obviously needed a desparate run to the back yard. I'll admit, I stood there wondering why I told two adult people that I would be sleeping in...and wasn't heard.

Then I went to get my hair cut. It was way past time. I'm seriously NOT kidding about the chia pet thing...it was a mess. Hair cuts never cease to be traumatic experiences and again, it happened. I went to the local hair academy. They are inexpensive and the young stylists still seem to care about doing things correctly. Well, I explained what I wanted (she didn't even know what I meant by "shag...not mullet".) Anyway, the instructor came over and brought several students to see my head. She wanted them to see the example of several types of hair on one head. Then, even though I stated SEVERAL times that I didn't want it too short, but I wanted to have a nice style to it...they proceeded to cut. They cut it dry and as they kept clipping I kept saying, "don't forget...it shrinks another half inch or so"....I almost laughed when the instructor said, "wow, look how much it shrinks" as they were washing it out. Needless to say, I'm pretending to LOVE my hair...but...again left wondering, "why don't they ever hear what I want?"

This morning iced the cake. I realize that I only have 2 more days here...but while I was gone yesterday, someone TOTALLY rearranged my desk. They took my calendar and pictures and stuck them in a drawer....put everything in different places...ate my wheat things...I'M NOT GONE YET PEOPLE!

I had an eye-opening moment during the first year I was a teacher. I had asked the students to answer some "get to know you" questions. One question was: If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?" As I was reading their responses I came upon one that made me cry. George was a tall, lanky boy with very long black hair. He didn't have a lot of friends and early in the semester my impression was that he was not thrilled about being at school...or anywhere for that matter. His first 2 responses were pretty normal for a 9th grader...#1 to be an NBA star, #2 to own a car...but #3 made a lasting impression...he wrote..."I wish that I was not insignificant."

That moment (ok, after a few minutes of sobbing)...I decided that never would one of my students feel insignificant as long as they were in my classroom. I don't know if George realized this or not...but for the next 3 years everytime I saw him I would call out a hello or stop him to ask how he was. It was almost funny because sometimes he would appear to be annoyed that I was stopping him in the hallway to talk to him. I have tried to apply this to my everyday life too. I want people I come in contact with to feel like I hear them and I care about what is going on with them.

I am so lucky to know that I am significant to God...even when I don't feel like anyone else is listening. I know that He listens to me each and every day and He cares about what I am saying.

Make sure those around you know that they are significant!