The Greatest Compliment

Teachers love their students. You can scroll through the #armmewith on Instagram and see how passionate this group of people are about their students and their jobs.

Teachers love the hand raisers and the line leaders. We love the ones that make us laugh and the one who can be a bit unpredictable, the ones that keep us on our toes. Teachers love the kind ones and the ones who try really hard and the ones who don't have to try at all. Teachers love the ones who sit on the back row and the ones who doddle in all of the margins. We love the ones who talk all the time and the ones who barely speak. Teachers love the confident ones who know exactly who they are and we love the ones who are still figuring it out.

We know we aren't supposed to have favorites but sometimes we can't help it. There is always that one kid who makes us worry after hours. The one we take home in our hearts and in our prayers. The one that we may not be able to help. The one who takes extra energy. Really good teachers really love those ones.  The hungry ones. The angry ones. The ones who smell a little funky. The ones who have attitude. And it can be hard to do. And sometimes it hurts. And it can be heavy.

This week a kind-hearted aspiring administrator was assigned to shadow and learn from our principal. And what a week. She had a front row seat to our wonderful crazy as we are knee deep in high stakes test prep and heightened security measures. She threw herself right into the metal detectors, teacher complaints,late buses, bag checks, ACT boot camp, classroom visits, crisis managing, student consoling and or counseling, lunchroom food, substitute shortages, spring temperature dress code violations and all the things in between.

On her last afternoon with us she with us she gave us the absolute best compliment. As she was saying goodbye, she thanked us and said that she admired what we do here and said "You can tell the love is genuine and there is so much of it."  It was the best compliment my teacher heart has ever gotten.  Her sweet words this week served as a confirmation for me and the rest of our leadership team of the work God has assigned us to, that He sees us loving His people well, and He is with us while we do it.  What more could we ask?