One At a Time

If I had a dollar for every time I got asked "why do you want to be a teacher?" I'd be a rich woman. Since I started college, every time I meet someone or talk to someone about school, the topic of my major comes up. When I say that I'm an elementary education major and I want to teach those elementary babies, people begin to offer their "helpful" advice. 

• a teacher? that's too easy
• you're too smart to do that
• you really want to deal with kids for eight hours every day?
• you won't get paid enough
• why don't you do something better with your life?
• have you ever thought about being a nurse or a therapist?
• you just want to be a teacher because of summer break

Most days, those opinions from others are really frustrating. I realize that I'm going to be putting in a lot of hours and I won't be getting paid tons of money. Yes, there is summer break, but summer is spent in training and preparing for the next school year. Yes, I have thought about other careers and yes, I really want to deal with kids all day long.

You see, what most people don't realize is that I didn't sit down one day and just pick a major. God began working in my life a long time ago so that I could see the calling He has given me. He began preparing me and equipping me with the personality traits and skills that I need to be an effective teacher. I believe 100% that being a teacher is what God has called me to do. Being a teacher is my ministry. Each day I will stand up in front of children and pour into their lives. Yes, I want them to learn. Yes, I want them to pass the tests. But most importantly, I pray my students leave my class at the end of the year knowing that they are loved, important, and cherished. 

"I have learned that I will not change the world. Jesus will do that. I can, however, change the world for one. So I keep loving one person at a time because this is my call as a follower of Jesus." --Katie Davis (from Kisses from Katie)
This is why I want to be a teacher. I cannot change the world all by myself. I can change the world for my students. So that's what I'll do. In two years, I'll graduate from Central Baptist College and, hopefully, begin my first teaching job. I'll have a class filled with 25ish precious kids and I'll get to love on each of them daily and change their world. 

I pray that I never lose sight of the calling God has given me and my job never becomes about the amount of money I'm making or the millions of hours of inservice. My job is about the kids and changing the world for them--one student at a time.