How do you teach a student who's father just committed suicide, when just yesterday he was telling you how he is going to apply to Harvard and Stanford and Yale and see which one he gets into to surprise his dad. How do you reach two girls who hate you because you have high expectations for them and want them to reach them? How do you help a girl who doesn't know there is anything better in life than the guy she will be with tonight? How do you protect the children that live next door to you who have abusive parents? How do you not feel overwhelmed by all you see and all you can't do?
I just don't know how.
I do know however that life is made better by the people we meet along the way and by the ways we can serve them. I have also learned that there is nowhere on earth that is free of hardship, filth, and evil. I have learned that we can live among the filth but not know it because we are so aware of only ourselves, or because we only see the good. But I have also realized that having eye-opening experiences are good to help us see that we are needed and that our talents can be utilized all around us if we will only be willing to learn how.
Wow, such weighty and real concerns. I cry for you.
ReplyDeleteI felt some of that at y our age teaching my class of after class of Mia Maids and aching at not being able to teach them enough to avoid consequences of poor choices. I STILL ache about my failures there. But you know what, it made COMMITTED, to my marriage, and to the raising of five beautiful little people in our home. I made lots of mistakes, and I prayed, cried, and apologized a lot and then started anew day after day to do the basics... Family dinner, prayers, FHE, and chores and fun. It was hard, and there were lot and lots of times I wondered if we were succeeding or failing, but as of now, the fruits are delicious, and beautiful and satisfying. I am so grateful we didn't give up. And maybe, just maybe, our family, made a difference on others along the way.
I know for a fact that the new families being formed from our family, ARE AND WILL. Keep up the hard but vital of work of being a light to a dark world. We love and pray for you and for your class as well.