Not my strength

The other day in my devotional book, Jesus Calling, I read this:

It is good that you recognize your weakness. That keeps you looking to Me, your Strength. Abundant life is not necessarily health and wealth; it is living in continual dependence on Me.

I had to think of that today. Being responsible for 25 children creates many moments when I cannot depend on my own strength! Today, for example, I had two students getting sick (one throwing up in the classroom), desks falling apart, about five students who just can't seem to get caught up with their work with the end of the quarter looming ahead of us, a boy retrieving something who ended up completely under his desk for a minute or two, a student -while microwaving his lunch - exclaiming, "Peas and chicken are popping out of my soup!", behavior issues, which included students running/skipping/jumping after I had just talked to them and was making them walk with me, students constantly calling out and talking without raising their hands, students making all sorts of noises such as squealing, clicking, and sirens, a student lying completely underneath my rocking chair (head out the front, feet out the back) right before I was ready to sit on it...

By the end of the day, I was actually saying to students, "Listen, I have no patience left!" I'm glad God doesn't run out of patience with me, and I have another chance tomorrow to show a little more grace. :)

And I did get a nice self-esteem boost this afternoon as I was grading papers. One of the directions on their Language paper was to write a sentence about their teacher using a linking verb. I made sure to instruct them to be nice, and so it was rather pleasant to read 25 variations of "My teacher is nice," or my favorite one, "My teacher is pretty." Thanks, students! It means a lot, even though I did tell you to write nice things about me!