In light of all of the news about Syrian refugees over the past few weeks, I have been humbled by the fact that I consider my daily crosses to be difficult. My family is healthy. We have enough food to eat, a nice house, two cars, and many other blessings. While I may worry about a reckless driver or unstable person every now and again, I do not live in fear that I may lose my life.
This video: http://viewpure.com/JSR_H3cyahU speaks about the need for teachers to be strategic in the battles that they fight. Not everything is worthy of a battle. Maybe getting a student to follow directions is a great first step; worry about them putting in their best effort later. Maybe getting a parent in for a meeting is more important than getting them to stop sending candy for snack.
We also need to recognize the truth behind the battles that we should be fighting. Perhaps one of the greatest tactics used by our enemy is for us to get so wrapped up in the things that don't really matter that we lose sight of the bigger picture. The enemy traps us into thinking and feeling that the battle is with a colleague, student, parent, administrator, wife, child instead of with him. The enemy preys upon us so that we argue and hold grudges and fill with resentment so that kids who are hurting inside don't get the love they need, so that cycles of poverty can continue, so that ignorance's roots grow deeper and so that the ranks of those in God's Kingdom do not increase.
Like the deaf man from the Gospel a few weeks ago, we often cannot hear the cries that matter. Furthermore, we often remain mute to telling others the story of hope in Jesus Christ. May Jesus open our ears so that we can hear the voices in need of our help. May He open our lips so that we can speak the words of His Hope. May the Spirit move within ourselves and our school in such a stirring way that we cannot help but tell others about this Good News!
We are Hope Spreaders.
We are Love Givers.
We are Truth Tellers.
We are World Changers.
We are Catholic educators.
We are Teachers.
We are Incarnational.
We are ICS.
