year 10.

I can't believe that tomorrow starts my 10th year of teaching.  My first class has graduated and have started their freshmen year in college.  Crazy.

And yet I have only graduated to 5th grade.  :)

There is really no way to put into words all the emotions and feelings that come with the first day of school for me.  It's like I'm still a student with all the things I feel - excitement, nervousness, a little bit of anxiety, hopeful, and anticipation.  I guarantee I will wake up multiple times tonight afraid I'll miss my alarm clock and yes, my clothes are laid out and my lunch is packed.

I was talking with one of my dear teacher friends this afternoon and we were talking about being a teacher.  How it is just IN us.  It never goes away.  It is just who we are and it will always be who we are.  It is a CALLING.  Not a job.  A CALLING.  And this calling comes along with a load of responsibility.  A responsibility to love on, grow, encourage, and teach the future.

And these ones that I that I get to love on, encourage, and teach have been entrusted to me by God.  He entrusts in my care a group of students (other peoples' babies) each year that He picked out for me.  He wants me to teach them.  He wants me to encourage them.  He wants me to love on them.  He wants me to share Jesus' love with them each day.  I get to be His light each day to a group of kids that might not see Him otherwise.  What a responsibility.

So, I as get ready to go to bed (yes, I go to bed earlier than my students) I go to bed with a heavy heart for my new students.  A heart that is ready to love 100 new students.  Ready to meet them where they are.  Ready to serve them the best I can.  And ready more than anything to share Jesus with them, even though I will never be able to even whisper His precious name within the walls of my classroom.  I pray tonight that my life is an example of Him to my students.

 "By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
John 13:35