Today a dream came true for me. I'm back in the classroom after 26 years away.
Twenty-six years ago this week I gave birth to my firstborn son. And though I had loved teaching, I also longed to be a mom. When God gave me that gift, I knew I wanted to stay home with my baby.
But teaching is in my blood. It wasn't long before the advent of autumn tugged my heart back toward the classroom. What to do? For us, as our family grew, the answer was homeschooling.
There's something about those crisp days, school supplies, new clothes and new books as summer rolls into fall. Whether school takes place in a classroom or a living room, the fresh dive into learning feels exciting.
I loved homeschooling. For over 20 years, I almost always had at least one of our four children studying at home. Then last year we moved back to my hometown and found ourselves on the verge of empty nest. Our youngest daughter did her senior year at the Christian school I had graduated from. And I found myself longing to teach again.
When the question came, "Do you have any interest in teaching first grade?" my heart jumped at the chance. I scheduled an interview with the principal.
Then my oncologist called, and I found myself with another appointment on the very same day--an MRI-guided biopsy of an area that had come back benign eight months before. My new doctors in the States wanted to check the spot again.
Filling out the teaching application kept my mind busy the night before the biopsy, and anticipation of the interview gave me something to focus on while I was in the MRI tube. All I could think was, "God, You wouldn't let me come this close to teaching again and take it away, would You?"
That afternoon, the job offer came, but I asked to delay my answer until after the biopsy results. Thus began a week of trying not to worry. I wrote in my diary: "I'm not so much fearing for my life this time; I'm fearing for my dreams. I want so badly to teach!" For some reason, the stakes felt so much higher. I know where I'm going when my life ends, but I have a lot of things I still want to do while I'm on this earth!
I know God owes me nothing, but I know He gives good gifts, too. I clung to hope--but tried not to clench it too tightly. How hard it is to hold our dreams with open hands!
One week later, in spite of the fact that I'd convinced myself I had cancer again (I mean, how could they take twelve tissue samples from anybody and not find cancer somewhere?) I heard the wonderful words "benign findings." I could hardly believe my ears.
But it really was true. I accepted the job, spent the summer preparing, and today welcomed 13 first graders to a full day of school.
The craziest part of this story is that one of my students is the daughter of a girl that I taught . . . in first grade . . . in another city where her dad was our pastor. Don't try to figure that out--it's just God's little way of bringing things full circle. I can see Him winking at me, saying, "It's ok. I've got your timeline all figured out."
Yes, He's a good God. And He gives good gifts.
What has He gifted you with today?
