It felt uncomfortable at first, my ridiculous prayer. Not sure where it came from, but it rolled off my lips and then became what I have asked God for every single morning for the last six months. I want to be the best Spanish teacher ever. If you’re a Spanish teacher reading this, um, I’m not sure what this means… Read More
How to Take Heart When You’re Super Anxious
When our kids were little, I read Growing Kids God’s Way, by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo, and learned an excellent practice for teaching my kids how to politely get my attention when I was talking with someone else. My child would come up to me and put his hand on my arm or leg. I would reach down and… Read More
If You’re Facing Serious Deficiencies Right Now
When I needed something but felt guilty asking for it, dad loved to pull out his wallet and let the hundreds fan in front of my eyes for a second. “Oh man, I’m almost out of money,” he would say. Then we would exchange smiles. His smile would say, “What’re you worried about, kid?” My smile would say, “Shoot, I… Read More
How Will I Know When God Is Talking to Me?
Yesterday I pulled out a manila file labeled “colors.” That’s the theme of the week in my Spanish class, so I have plans to bring colors to my students through various mediums. Skittles are on the docket, because if a student tastes the rainbow, he might be more motivated to remember its colors. I also have a color by number,… Read More
When Your People Need You But You Got Nothin’
It was my very first summer to mow the lawn, about a decade ago. When I was growing up that was a boy job, so I had never even been asked to mow. But the grass was kicking up Matt’s allergies and asthma so bad that I suggested I give it a go. Come to find out, I loved mowing…. Read More
Do This Before You Perform Your Normal Worry Sequence
I remember one night when my dad and brother were gone, and mom and I wanted to set the VCR to record a TV show. I can imagine my children shaking their heads at that archaic technology, but at the time it was super cool that we could do such a thing. So we got out the instruction booklet. I… Read More
Here’s What to Do with Your Frustration
I was sitting in the center of the long room, at one of the fancy new electric typewriters. It was a timed typing test, in my first semester of typing class. She said go, and I could not keep up. In one of my finest moments, I ripped the paper out of the machine, crumpled it in a ball, and… Read More
What to Pray When Things Aren’t Looking Good
Twenty-eight hours into a 30-hour road trip –that’s when my son’s 2000 Dodge Neon lost its lights. We were five minutes north of Fort Worth, Texas when my husband decided we were going to have to find a mechanic. There was no way we could get through Fort Worth with no brake lights. Bums were tired. Hearts were discouraged. We… Read More
Permission Granted to Pray about Small Stuff
You’ll know for sure how nerdy I am, when I tell you I’ve been praying about a grammar concern all summer. Maybe you’ve been hiking and boating and roasting marshmallows, but I just do words in all four seasons. So you know I’m a Spanish teacher, and I entered the summer determined to understand this one grammar detail that I… Read More
You Want to Make The Most of Your Life
I have been performing the same ritual every weekend for a few decades now. Old towels come down and get tossed into the hamper. New towels, still with a hint of bleach smell, get hung nice and fresh on the bathroom rods. On Friday night, I went through the routine. Once more I lamented the need for bleach and wistfully… Read More