Saturday, January 27, 2018

Lightbulb by Nina B.

I've been a teacher for nearly twenty years, actually more if you count teaching on the college level and at night while teaching elementary school during the day and tutoring on my off nights from the college classes - that was a crazy time. For a treat, I would drive to the Oak Brook McDonald's before heading home and order a cheese burger with onions - only. My supper during those nights... back in the day when I ate meat.

God has delivered me and I have come a lonnnngggg way baby! I did that for two years to bring in much needed income. I didn't sleep much then... And as my children would recount - they didn't see much of me, so it was good that I taught full time at the school they attended, so I did see them and I did do mom things like: make breakfast, (weekend breakfast was my favorite - fried potatoes with onions), lunches, (my son tells me that he used to sell his lunch - I took special care into making them... special), suppers and wash the laundry and clean the house, (I hated cleaning under the boys beds - the mysteries of untold stories of where those "missing things" went...) - you know - mom stuff.

Once upon a time...way back when, it was my joy to simply be a mom at home - back then I was a homeschooling mom!

Good Lord, the kids and I looked like something out of "The Little House on the Praire".

I took pride in doing many things from scratch... breads, bagels, cookies... The kids used to beg to have store brought cookies. I was a part of a food coop... We had a vegetable garden.... It was good that I wasn't too handy with the sewing machine... But with six kids - we made due with lots of hand-me-downs...

Life was good. Thirteen years good... But then in 2000, I went to work as a teacher in a private Christian school in Chicago's Little Village. I didn't think I was giving up being a mom, I just figured that my family just grew...

Now looking back, with an empty nest and flickers of retirement looming ahead, I had a lightbulb moment....

My children had me as mom exclusively for thirteen years and really, I'm still their mom, no matter how far and how old they get, the connection is still true. However, it is and was also true for the thousands of other children who became mine throughout the course of school years. I get funny stares from my 21st century parents on parent/teacher night when I announce, that for the time their children are with me, they become my own and so I parent, while of course supporting them too. For sure, it's a partnership.

Now remember,... my kids had me exclusively for thirteen years, so when I became a "teacher" to other children it was a little hard... For all of us. My children had to learn to share me and realize that while they were and always are paramount in my life, there were others that put demands on my time and attention and love. I still love my very own dearly, but my love had to grow, because I was / am a mom. To this day, if I refer to a coworker that happens to be near my children's age as my other child, my children really get attitude and are quick to remind me that they are exclusive and chosen and that any others, well... are ... Just other people.

I laugh, because my dear exclusive children know me... The family simply gets a little bit bigger...

Lightbulb!

God made the children of Israel exclusive to Him. They were His chosen people. They were the apple of His eye and had the job of drawing all nations to Him... But ... They didn't. They wanted, it seemed, ....to keep God exclusively theirs and made rules and laws so important that no one could get to the God of Israel - this God that was so special...

But God's heart was/is too big, to not share ... He sees so many "other" children without a Father's love, to not offer His Love - so He did/does.... Despite the grumbling and the walls and mountains and road blocks and  lies, and the stones and the crosses the children of Israel erected - God prevailed and allowed the family to simply get a bit bigger. God the Father sent His son Jesus to be our brother to bridge the gap over our sin... we, Gentiles just need to take His hand and go across the bridge that spans the divide...

Isn't that neat!?!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Nina










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