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Daily Devotional – CERTIFIED AS GOD’S APPOINTED

By November 1, 2016Daily Devotionals

CERTIFIED AS GOD’S APPOINTED

Prayer:  Dearest Lord, Thank You for Your amazing grace to change us to make a difference for You where You, in Your great wisdom, have placed us.  We love you. Amen.

Scripture:  Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10 NAS

I was certified in 7-12 French and English but left my position the previous summer because I planned on moving to Chicago. That didn’t happen, however, so my choice of position was one: kindergarten in a city school.

The week before school started I went to the Projects where the children lived, knocked on every door to make home visits and introduce myself as the children’s teacher. I was humbled to see a mother answer the door in a wheelchair as she welcomed me into her sparkling clean small apartment.

Now it was my second week in the inner city kindergarten and I was experiencing culture shock. There were shocks on several fronts: 1) little arms crossed in front of chests as feet stamped, ‘no nap!’;  2) poverty and neglect which sent children to school with no buttons or socks while the mothers wore leather coats; 3) no concept of how to form a line or do the smallest things that we take for granted in the middle and high schools; 4) constant need for vigilance—no, ‘go ahead and read while I ________’ 5) the need to teach everything from science to math to reading to music, with no training in any of those areas.

Today was the day for music.  I went to the music closet to pull out the musical instruments and screamed. With no thought for anyone but myself, I raced out of the classroom, down the hall and onto the sidewalk. Just as quickly I thought, “I’ve just left a roomful of kindergartners in the room with a rat! As I raced back into the room I saw the children all standing with somber and caring looks on their faces, concerned that I didn’t know what to do with a rat. “Don’t worry teacher! We’ll catch the rat!”

What a year that was. I adored those little children. I devised a ticket system for behavior which allowed children to ‘shop’ on Fridays for things I purchased during the week–things like socks and hats and presents for mamas, grandmamas and aunties. I bought and gave buttons and needles and threads to mothers with an order to sew buttons on their children’s coats, and they did!

I left the kindergarten at the end of that year for a job in my field of teaching secondary English and French but had a great note from the principal saying that I had the makings of an excellent kindergarten teacher. We made it through the year! I learned far more than the children did. I learned about culture, about holding parents responsible, about loving discipline. I learned that I did not need to do what the teachers were expected to do at that school (paddle!) Because I did not want to do that, I devised my ticket plan that worked far better. While the teachers were still paddling at the end of the year, my students who were lovingly guided with my ticket program were beautifully behaved, and I could take them anywhere.

It’s amazing what we can do when we are thrown into a situation. Thank God for His mercy so that I was able to guide those little ones. It was a privilege and a blessing.

Copyright Cheryl Skid.  Email [email protected]