Monday, July 23, 2012

Faith

Wow! As of this weekend, I have been blogging for a whole year! How time flies!!! :)

When I began blogging, I didn't think I would make it 6 months! I figured my life would get in the way of this love of mine! It's relaxing to me to blog and I love reading other blogs to inspire my teaching!

I guess I needed to have more faith in myself!  One little word... Faith. Such an important word, yet sometimes it loses its meaning.

I try to have faith in others, so why is it so hard to have faith in myself?  Am I the only one that is so critical of herself? I am sure I am not, although I feel that way sometimes.

Do you have faith? In others? In yourself? In God?

Last school year was a very hard year. Every day I went to school with a smile and a prayer and by the end of the day I was wore down and exhausted beyond belief. Where did my faith go?

Then I came to the realization that I needed to pray in the mornings, not just for myself, but for my students. I would enter my classroom and pray for each child, one by one. The days I did, my day was happier and I felt better about my day. My students were calmer and, I felt, listened better on those days. Faith.

Of course, most days I rushed into my room and quickly did last minute tasks to get ready for the day before the students arrived. But on the days I prayed for them, I had a better day.

Even though we can't talk about God in the public school system, I feel it is important for teachers to have their faith and pray for their classroom. Last year it really did make a world of difference for me!

I hope I have inspired you to have faith.

In a few weeks a wonderful author, Angela Watson, is going to do a guest post on my blog about her wonderful book, "Awakened: Change Your Mindset to Transform Your Teaching" and her newest book, "The Awakened Devotional Study Guide for Christian Educators". 

You can find more information about her Awakened books here: http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/books/awakened and the devotional here: http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/books/awakened-devotional.

I don't want you to miss this post!

And remember, keep following me! I have some goodies coming my way soon that I want to share! :)




10 comments:

Delighted said...

The past 2 years I have tried to spend my drive time (10 minutes or more) praying for my students. My own issues sometimes get in the way, but for the most part I pray for each of my students individually. I believe it made a difference. That's not to say that I didn't encounter issues during the day of course. It is a tradition that I plan on continuing.

imgoingfirst@gmail.com

Kerri Buckner said...

I too have had better days when I pray for my students individually in the morning. It starts my day off with a calm as hard as it is to do sometimes. Thanks for this reminder.
Ms. Kerri and her Krazy Kindergarten

Heidi said...

What a GREAT post. The sermon in church yesterday was about having Faith and being Faith workers. We must have faith and believe in God and show that faith in the things we do. I have found so many times that when I pray for my students and the day ahead that the day is much better. :)

Heidi
My (Not So) Elementary Life

Elizabeth said...

Loved your post! I believe we probably all struggle with faith at some point in life. I can't wait for your guest post. I think you would really like my post series on Wednesdays, "Word of Wisdom", if you haven't checked it out already.

Elizabeth L.
The First Grade Jungle Room

Unknown said...

thanks for sharing, I am now your newest follower!
Jessica
tales of a first grade teacher

Marlana said...

Great post, Cheryl! Congratulations on one year of blogging!

I get together with a group of teachers and staff and we pray for students, teachers, families, etc. before school as we can. In previous years, we've had devotionals on Tuesday mornings before school and every time I walked away, I felt a renewed sense of faith in what we were doing. My best friend, a 2nd grade teacher, organizes a monthly get-together where we do charity work. We've volunteered at places like the Ronald McDonald House, Convoy of Hope and lots of other places. That always does my heart good because I realize how blessed my life has truly been and how small my troubles seem to be.

I found a quote on a poster when I was a teenager that said "Faith isn't faith until it's all you're holding onto". I don't know who it was written by, but that's been a huge encouragement to me when I'm in the midst of a rough school year. If we didn't get to the point that we needed faith, we might not truly understand it's value in our lives.

Thanks so much for posting about faith. You made my night!

Blessings,
Marlana
Lil' Country Kindergarten
Kindergarten Network

Melanie Lloyd said...

What a great post, I loved it! I just found out that staff and students at public school nearby to me still say a daily morning prayer. I think it is wonderful, and wished more schools were able. I am not sure how long it will continue :(

Tiffani said...

Congratulations n your milestone

amy said...

Thank you for this inspirational post. It is easy to let life get in the way sometimes and we all need to reflect. Thank you for reminding me of what I know to be true. :)

Sheri said...

Thanks for your post! I teach in a private church school so we pray together every morning which is a wonderful privilege. However, I need to do as you discussed and pray for them before they get there each day. Thanks again for this much needed bit of advice.

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