Yes, it’s been a couple months since I’ve written here. Honestly, it’s been a challenge to feel confident that my words might be giving anyone a moment of joy. That’s what happens sometimes. We doubt. We lose hope. We limit ourselves.

I’ve been an educator for twenty years. More if you count the years I worked in daycare and baby-sitting (which for me was a serious business!). Every year the same cycle of never-ending to-do items, overwhelming schedules, and unlimited events begin to arrive altogether at the same time which I will call the “Flood Time”. You know…when all of the never-ending work just keeps rising with no end in sight! It is that time. Right now.

With a return to the classroom, I have been building all year to this point where my students are putting the learning altogether to reflect and see what they have accomplished. All year, I have carefully considered which lesson, which strategy and which student task will guide each student to understanding. Every day, the planning and delivery need to blend in just the right way to build upon the day before. Every class time, careful observation and management of the student relationship needs to occur or the final outcome of enhanced student learning is lost. This is like building an ark.

Noah was told to build an ark. He was given the instructions, and he delivered as God asked. Every single day was spent preparing the ark, building it in stages, carefully and purposefully to ensure the ark would not sink when it was time. He built the ark. He managed his family in the work. He filled the place with pairs of animals. There is no doubt in my mind that through it all, he was WORN OUT! But then the flood came! There wasn’t time to rest, there was more work to do. Every. Single. Day.

This is what my current reality is. WORN OUT! Every. Single. Day. Maybe you can relate. Maybe you can’t. Some of us do a really amazing job of balancing all that work and finding ways to rest in the midst of it. I would love to hear how you do it! But for the rest of you who maybe feel the same as I do right now, here’s some HOPE.

Noah worked and worked and worked. Then the flood came and Noah worked some more. He didn’t rest. He didn’t quit. He maybe doubted. He maybe lost hope (especially near the 40th day and the doves returned empty-beaked!). He maybe started to put limits on what he could do. BUT then the Sun shone. The waters receded. The doves brought the olive branch. AND you can just imagine Noah’s face. Turned to the sun, with a huge grin spreading across his face, Noah sees God’s rainbow. WOW!

For educators, that is what Summer vacation feels like right? Like all the effort and hope for our students was all worth it. That while another year is ahead (and we are already thinking about it), we can now let the Flood recede, let our breath out, and we can accept that while we are WORN out, we can SMILE knowing that our efforts are completely worth it. Who knows what each of our rainbows (students) will accomplish as they move up another year. We do know that we worked our tails off trying to get them another step closer to their bright and shining spot in this world. AND it is worth it!

Shine on my educator peeps! Worn out and Smiling along with you!

-Carrie Ruth