Ready or Not

The beginning of the school year has always hit an interesting note for me.

Not to say that I don't like it, it's actually kind of an adrenaline rush. Students have an overflowing amount of anticipation. Whether or not it comes from reuniting with friends, nerves about classes, teachers, what have you...a sense of calm seems absent on the first day of school. This over looming shadow of uncertain excitement creeps its way into the feelings of teachers as well. What will my class be like? Will I have so-and-so? Did I plan enough? What do I do on the first day? Am I ready?

Am I ready?
Am
I
Ready
?

As an educational therapist, it's obvious that I have stepped away from the lifestyle of a classroom teacher. My office is soon to, once again, become my second home and I look forward to working with my students one-on-one. However, this question couldn't have come up more often this past week. The hours seemed to slip away as I typed countless emails, wrote up paperwork, and simply made time to breathe. That being said, what does it mean to be...ready?

I suppose that is a relative question. It's kind of like asking, what is normal? Normalcy is dependent on the person. What's normal for me is extremely foreign to someone who lives a life different than my own. In this same way, readiness is proven based on a person's necessary preparation for his or her own journey. It can range from traveling to a different country or simply embarking on a new school year. (Simply? Hah! I say that like it's an easy feat.)

In reality though, not matter how prepared we may think we are...we will never be ready. On paper everything may look put together, but I guarantee anything and everything may and or will pop-up.

But that's ok.
We're human.
If our lives followed everything exactly, there would be nothing to build from and no lessons to learn.

Even in the education field it's ok to make mistakes and disprove the belief that we have to be perfect. It's ok to step out of our glasshouses and admit that we're wrong. I've found that students are able to relate better to teachers who think differently and break the mold of the "perfect" teacher. (Or what one person might think said educator might be.) Students, no matter how old they are, are smart enough to know when you're trying to be something that you're not.

As we begin another chapter of school remember...

Our jobs bring meaning
Our jobs bring growth
Our jobs bring influence

Most importantly, our jobs aren't about us...they're about the students.
No matter how ready we (or they) are.

"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants"

-Deuteronomy 32:2