A Parent's Love

If you are a teacher, you are still in that first month of transition. You have new students to get to know and new class dynamics to figure out. The students also have a transition, in each grade they enter, they have a new beginning. In Kindergarten, children have a huge transition, from being home or in daycare to being in school and what that all means. Transitions can be exciting; buying the first school bag, having a cubby with their name, and a hook to hang their coat. But, they can also be terrifying. This year I have a little boy who needs to be pried off his mom every morning and who will scream and cry for the first 10 minutes of the day until he really believes that his mom will come back to pick him up. Transitions can be scary. Knowing what to say as a teacher in that situation can be tough when emotions take over and no words are soothing enough. No words; but only a parents loving embrace.

These are some moments you realize a parent’s love for their child; when they will stay in the hallway for three hours just to make sure that their son is okay. A parent’s love for their child is remarkable. You see it in how a parent sticks around to ask how their son or daughter is doing and is excited about any little detail you provide about the day. You can see it in a huge hug they give their child in the hallway at the end of the school day, with a concerned phone call about a certain incident, and with the big smiles when a child hands them a messy dripping painting they so desperately want to take home. Their love is huge!

Parents go through that transition each year too. Each year, they entrust their children in your care, hoping that you too can share in the love they have for their children. They want you to see what they see and know what they know about their children.

Parents know their children. They know when they are sad, when they are hungry, when they are having a bad day and sometimes even when they have to go to the bathroom. They just know! It’s remarkable how they JUST know. A parent’s love is great. But how much greater is God’s love for his children who he knows even more than we can understand. Psalm 139 reads, O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely… vs 13…. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

God’s love is unconditional and surpasses our understanding. God’s love for each of the children in our classrooms is huge and He too wants us to share in that. Sometimes it can be hard to love the child who gets on our nerves, who asks us the same question 3 times because he has forgotten to listen to the answer, who always forgets to put his inside shoes on after recess, who puts glue in the bottom of the pencil jar, who mixes all the playdough together, whose shoelace seems to come undone every 5 minutes, who steals the sticky tack from the backs of posters and puts it in people’s hair etc. But… we need to remember that each of these children are precious to their parents in their own way. Each of these children are children of God, and as teachers we are given the great responsibility to nurture them, teach them, know them and care for them. In James 3:1, a verse that is probably well known to all Christian school teachers, it reads, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers my brothers because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

That’s a huge responsibility to bear. A teacher can have a huge influence on a child’s life. To this day, I can remember the grade four teacher who gave me a thank you card for playing hockey at recess with a girl who usually got picked on. I remember how that card showed me she paid attention to me. I can also remember the time in grade two when I saw my Kindergarten teacher for the first time in over 2 years. She did not say hi. I remember the sad feeling I had that she did not remember who I was. Teachers have an impact. What a huge responsibility to carry. Often times I think that the responsibility is too much. There is too much to remember, too many things to be aware of, too many things that can be said, and too many needs to be met. But I am encouraged by the story of Moses in Exodus which I was reminded of this past Sunday. I hope you can be too. The Israelites are in slavery and God knows the longings of their hearts. He knows them well. Moses is asked by God to take on the task and responsibility of going to Egypt to lead the people out of slavery. He doesn’t feel fit and tells God many times that he is not the one and that another one, who is better with his words, should go in his place. God answers and says “who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you the words to say.” (Ex 4: 11-12)

The Lord knows his children and what they need. The Lord knows the longings of the children in our classes. He knows them well. The Lord works through his people and he can give us the words to say and the hearts to listen to what they need as well. Take comfort in that fact and enjoy the children that God has entrusted to us.