8 Weeks

I have less than 8 weeks of school left, and exactly 8 more weeks until I go home for the summer. And I know it’s going to fly by.

Less than 8 weeks until I am done with my first year of teaching.

Less than 8 weeks of being with these crazy, hyper, distracted, smart, loving, beautiful little children every day.

8 more weeks until I say goodbye to some teachers who have become pretty dear friends to me in just 9 months.

8 more weeks until I am home in Downers Grove, IL and get to be with my family and friends and RELAX!

That last one I’ve been thinking about more and more lately, as this semester has thrown at me many more curveballs and trials and stressors that have wrought more emotions than the last did. I’ve more often had the sentiment of “I want my mommy!” than maybe at any other point of my adult life. (And I still really, really do…!)

But I know my mindset right now needs to be:

8 more weeks to still invest myself fully in the community and in my work.

It’s so easy to coast. It’s so easy to say “It really doesn’t matter at this point and I’m just going to try to make things as easy as possible for myself until my flight home on June 6.”

But I know God wants to use me still. And if I’m not in tune with the Spirit and how God wants to use me in the lives of my students, parents, the staff, and friends of mine in the community, I’ll be wasting my last 8 weeks here.

While it’s nice to see the end of a rather difficult year is in sight, and an “oasis,” or so it seems, is right around the corner, I don’t want to get lost in my dreaming and forget the beauty and the incompletion that lies in front of me.

I have more work to do, lives to pour into, and encouraging words to speak…There are more adventures to be had, more of La Paz to explore, Spanish to learn, music to play and sing, books to read, and solitude to seek out.

A lot can be done in 8 weeks…especially when given to the Lord, who has time and all of our hearts in His hands.