A former student messaged me the other day. 😊He wanted to say thanks to this old teacher. He didn’t thank me for teaching him how to use context clues when 📚reading or some new vocabulary words. He thanked me for the time I let him 😴sleep in my class. You see- he had been up all night with an emergency at the hospital and was just trying to make it through the school day. Because he took school seriously, he didn’t want to miss it. But- he was struggling emotionally and physically that day. 😢I felt that a short nap on my time was more important to his survival than listening to me discuss plot structure. So, he 😴slept for that hour.
He’s well out of school now, but that moment stuck with him all these years later.💘 It made a difference to him- enough of a difference that he took the time to send me a message long after it happened. He just wanted to make sure I knew that he💞 appreciated it.
I already knew. I knew the moment he put his 😴head down on the desk and closed his eyes. The pressure was gone- if only for a class period. I remember hoping that it would make a difference in his day. Thanks to his message, I know it made a difference in his life.🌈
There are two important parts to this story. The first one is the fact that this young adult took the time to send a message of 😍thanks to his middle school teacher. It was the first thing I saw on my 📲phone when I woke up the other morning, and it made my day. Expressing thanks is so important. 💝Do it in the moment. 💝Do it days or years later.💝 Just do it- for every little thing! Those simple words mean more than you may think. To this teacher- struggling to make a difference to kids in a COVID world- it was exactly what I needed to keep going into school every day- wearing my 😷mask, cleaning my desks ⏰hourly, and keeping that 6-foot distance❎ from my kids.
The second standout side to this story is the idea of 💖grace. That’s all I did when I allowed my sweet student to 😴sleep during that class. I gave him grace. I didn’t do anything big, but it was big for my student. He needed 💖grace. I recognized it, and I acted. It was as simple as that. He felt the 💖grace I offered to him, which gave him the peace to rest.
Don’t we all need a little 💖grace? I know that I do- daily. I need it at 🏫school. At 🏡home. In the 🚗car. At the store.
If we define 💖grace as giving a favor or blessing that is not deserved or expected, it’s pretty easy to spot the places we can offer it to others. Just keep your👀 eyes and ears open- and let your 💖heart do the rest.
- Be careful with your words. They hold more power than you might realize. Once they leave your 👄mouth, they can’t be pulled back in.
- Be there- and do what the moment requires. If your student is best served by letting him 😴sleep, that’s what you do.
- Be forgiving. 😈Ugly things happen. They are usually regretted. 😇Forgive. Whether you choose to forget- that’s up to you.
- Be generous with your smile!😀
- Be observant to the needs of others- and jump in to help.
- Be willing to let it go…whatever it is.
- Be gentle.
- Be kind.
- Be grateful.🙌
- Be a volunteer- an official one or just the kind who is willing to help when those moments pop up in life.✔
- Be a communicator. Make sure that those around you know how you feel. In our house, the words💞 I LOVE YOU are sprinkled into conversations all day, every day.
- Be there- sharing in the 😀happy times and 😢sad ones.
- Be quick to apologize. We all say and do stupid things. Admit it, make sincere amends, and move on.
What if…we remember 💖grace? It’s just love and kindness and compassion and empathy all rolled into one giant ball of goodness! 😍We need more of that in our world.💞
sharing the stairs 