James 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.
Wow – it’s been a while since I have been here writing! The last month has truly been NUTS!
Right after the beginning of the year, I learned that my class at school was probably going to be the chosen class to be evaluated and scored by ITERS/ECERS, an environmental rating organization. My classroom ratings would directly impact my entire school. I am very confident in my teaching ability and the way I run my classroom, but there is nothing like stressing you out to know that you are about to be scored and rated on every single aspect of your classroom, practices, teaching ability and style. It makes it even more stressful when you are an “insane perfectionist”- Yep, that’s me. I really don’t think I could have worked harder to make sure I had every “I” dotted and every “T” crossed – I was ready and my classroom looked great! Then - - - the weekend before we were to return to school from our last snow day, the phone rang! A pipe had burst at school from the extreme cold and the entire wing of my classroom had been flooded! All I could think is “All my hard work – washed away”! So, my teaching assistant (who is phenominal by the way) and I worked our tails off and put our classroom back into shape!
With all the stress & extra work I ended up sick! Two shots and an antibiotic later, just when I was getting my voice fully back, ITERS showed up at school! It was a crazy day, my kiddos were wild (of course) but I think we did really well. Hopefully we will get our scores as early as this week! Yey!
Then Kip and I were so blessed to be able to escape for a weekend to Little Rock! Our rest was short lived though! We returned home to sick kiddos. Strep has had a rampage on our house! No matter how hard I try to keep the nasty bug from spreading, it just seems to run through all four of our children and at least one parent. UGH! We have finally seen a pattern with Ben’s epileptic seizures, when he gets really sick, seizures are just going to happen. So, we have also had a nice (NOT) long visit to the ER. And it just never fails that the timing of sickness is impeccable. Kip, who rarely travels, was gone for a full week while all the children and I were the sickest! I think it has been almost a month since we have all been even at church together - crazy!!!
What can I say, but there is NEVER a dull moment at the Clarke house! Life as usual I guess! :-)
So, this all leads me to my new life motto – Rollerblading through life!
Today, we decided that it was probably best that we have home church. No one was running at 100% yet, 50% is probably about accurate. In hopes to make sure that everyone is all clear from the "bug", we decided to keep our germs to ourselves and not pick up anyone else’s! But I will say that “Cabin Fever” was on a rampage this afternoon. For Christmas we got our family Rollerblades – a brand new sport and adventure for all of us! With all this crazy winter weather, beautiful weekend weather has been at a premium. Today was gorgeous, so some good fresh air was just what the doctor ordered. So, time for family rollerblading!
Now, we are novices for sure! Watching the boys, we won’t mention my rollerblading abilities, was a hoot to say the least! I kept thinking that it is good that they are so young and “durable”. If I feel ¼ of the times they did, I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed for a month. It was so fun to watch them and such a joy to enjoy the afternoon doing something so fun together. It hit me as I was watching our boys – life is so much like rollerblading!
I have had to let go of so much the last month, it’s taken me almost 40 years but I have finally figured out that it is impossible for me to be Super Woman! My house has at times looked like an F5 tornado had hit inside, the laundry has been on an “as needed” schedule (I hate to admit it, but it’s true), writing has been on the back burner. Facebook – what facebook?. . . . .You get the picture! As I said earlier, I can tend to be an insane perfectionist (If you are reading this Kip – no comments allowed). My family comes first, so everything else easily gets moved to the back burner, but I do have a hard time not feeling guilty for all that I am not getting done! (I know - It’s my battle – some days I win – some days I don’t) I want to be able to keep all the balls in the air, but I can promise you that the circus will not be calling me – I really stink at juggling!
As I was watching our precious boys bouncing on their little bottoms today, I thought – that’s my life!!!!! How often do I fall? ALL THE TIME!!!! Sometimes it’s just a little bump and sometimes it really hurts! Just when I get a little confident – on my bottom again! It’s always a choice of how or whether to get back up though!
When one of our children would fall, we were always there to extend our hand to help them when needed. There were times that we knew they needed our help and there were times when we knew it was good to let our children pick themselves up and begin skating again. But we were always there, right there ready to pull them up, to help and comfort them if they were hurt! It really hit me – what a beautiful picture of our Lord as we rollerblade through the days of our lives!
What hit me even more though was the beautiful moment when the boys got the hang of their rollerblades! To watch them rollerblade so freely and so full of joy was just awesome. That’s when the Lord touched my heart and said if you don’t ever let go, hit the bumps in the road and fall on your bottom from time to time, you would never know the joy “getting it” and skating freely! If I never hit the bumps in the road and never fell, I would not know what it felt like to skate! I would miss out on all the fun! Would I really appreciate being able to rollerblade well, if I had just stepped out and was automatically a champion rollerblader? No, it takes the work, learning and falls from time to time to appreciate being able to skate with joy!
So my new motto is – Rollerblading through life! If you don’t fall from time to time, you miss out on all the fun!
Are your stepping out, trusting that the Lord is just and arm reach away or are you sitting on the sidelines to scared to try and missing out on the joy He has in store for you that will come from all the bumps in the road?
Persevere my friend – for he who with stands the test will receive the crown!
In His sweet love,
Holly
