My students this year on our final fir

The last day of school was today. It was an adventure from start to finish, from the forced labor workers / fifth graders that I press ganged into wall washing and desk cleaning service to the birthday party, to the paperwork and the graduation ... it's been on exhausting day. But now I'm sitting home alone feeling nostalgic but content and I felt I needed did to share with all of you what has encouraged me most about this week.

Last day of school

See, I was all set to be really sad this week. I was saying goodbye to my kids for Pete's sake! What if they fell in middle school? What if I did not prepare them well enough? And what if (heaven forbid) They moved ON from me and did not need to come give me hugs every day next year? How on Earth Could I keep on living?

And while we're on that topic...my roommate is LEAVING me in just a few short weeks!  I should be wallowing in self pity at the horrible atrocity of having to relinquish my dear friend to a country far away so that she can (oh the humanity) be with her husband after being apart for so long!

I should pout! 

I should despair!

The world as I know it has ceased!

HYPERBOLE IS CALLED FOR!!

But then a student of mine's mother came up to me yesterday with a gift and a card.  And in the card was a written quote. And I was so blessed by that little quote Because it came to me just when I needed it most. It Said this:  

"True teachers are Those Who Use Themselves as bridges over Which They invite Their students to cross; then, having Facilitated Their crossing, joyfully collapse, Encouraging them to create Their 

own. "

And that's when I breathed a deep sigh of relief.  All my fears and anxieties melted away.  Because I knew that it was right.  We are all teachers, and we are all students.  We are teachers in the classroom, to our own children, to our friends, and to our peers.  And we are students who are learning from teachers, parents, friends, and loved ones.  And we can all be blessed by this thought and the knowledge that the final, hardest step of teaching and learning is letting go and taking the next step.

So to both the bridge builders today, and the students, be blessed and confident.

To the bridge builders - those who have poured parts of themselves into the life of someone else in this season.  The time has come for us to collapse our support to allow our charges to learn to build on their own.  It doesn't mean that we have stopped caring, it means that we care with maturity and true compassion.  It means that we are standing just out of sight breathing out encouragement with each heartbeat, but it also means that it is time for us to step back and allow our children and friends and loved ones to stand with Christ and know that they can succeed.

And to those of us whose time with a great teacher or mentor has come to an end, take heart.  We have been blessed and taught well, we have been scaffolded and supported (and sometimes dragged) each step of the way, and now we are ready to take the next step on our own, to learn new lessons and forge new paths and to build our own strong bridges to show others the way.  Our loved ones are always standing by, watching for us at a distance, and even if our first stumbling attempts fail we will continue and grow through it.

So goodbye to my students of this year.  I have loved you through every triumph and adventure and lesson that we have learned together (yes even those hard times in the hallway when I had to speak the truth to you or the day that the entire chorus decided to go ice skating instead of coming to practice) and I am so proud of all that God has taught you this year.  But I'm ready to step back now and let you go forward.  I know that you will do great things through CHRIST who strengthens you. And thank you to my bridges in all the seasons of my life - including this year.  To those who have poured into my life and who have taught me the lessons that I'm ready to keep practicing myself.  You have shaped me and molded me and poured into me and taught me the love of Christ, and now I'm building new bridges of my own to show others the way.  You followed your call and I will never be the same because of you. 




Thank you.