Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21-23
A new school year has begun. I love the start of the school year! The rooms and hallways are clean and shiny. The pencils are long and have full erasers. The crayons are all still pointy and sharp. Student desks are neat and tidy, and so is mine!
But the best part of a new year is the energy and excitement in the building. Teachers are excited to get to know their students and try out the wonderful new ideas they’ve planned over the summer. And students are eager to impress and please their new teacher, too. Everyone starts fresh in a new school year. On day one -- even week one or two -- students and teachers alike expect to have good days ahead.
But I know that before long, the new will wear off. The excitement will wane. The students’ best behavior and desire to please are less evident. Things become routine and even that new idea that we are still excited about right now will become mundane.
And if you’ve been in a classroom much at all, you know that over time expectations begin to change. As teachers, we begin to anticipate bad behaviors from certain students, and sometimes we treat them differently because of that. Even when we don’t do it intentionally, we begin to see patterns in our kids’ behavior and start to treat them differently because of it.
I saw a Facebook post that advised teachers to get to know their students without letting last year’s teacher’s opinions taint their own. It said that we should allow each student to start with a clean slate. I wish that was as easy to do as it sounds!
Instead, I often start to view everything that certain students do through a different lens. I start looking for them to misbehave or to have a bad attitude. I start expecting them to make bad choices and be disrespectful--even before they have walked in my classroom. And I start to allow my feelings and irritation change how I interact with that student. I am less patient and kind and more grumpy and short with them.
I was thinking about this today. I realized that God is not like us, and I am so grateful for that! God sees our mistakes and failures and poor choices. He knows all of our sin and bad behavior patterns, but He does not stop loving us because of it. His mercy and compassion is new every morning! He forgives quickly and loves constantly -- every day.
I am going to challenge myself--and you, too. This school year, I want to allow each student (or coworker even) to start fresh each day. I want to show love and mercy and expect good things every day.
We all have bad days, and some of our students have more bad than anyone should have to endure as a child. When they come to us, there is sometimes a whole lot of bad that has happened at home the night before or just that morning. They need me to have God’s grace and mercy in full measure every morning! And that is not going to come naturally! I am going to have to be full of God’s Holy Spirit each day. And that will require some intentional prayer time and meditation on verses like Lamentations 3:21-23.
So let’s pray for one another as we continue through this school year. Let’s pray that we could learn how to wipe those mental and emotional slates clean every morning and greet our students and coworkers with mercy and compassion like God has for us.
Dear, Gracious, Merciful God, grant us the ability to start new every morning in the relationships with our students and coworkers. Help us to remember the amazing grace and mercy that You show us over and over again. Give us hearts of compassion for those around us. Give us the ability to separate the behavior from the person and to love them like You do.
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