Deep Thoughts

I haven't had a diet soda since January 3.

Wow.

And here's the bizarre thing...

I 

don't 

miss

it.

(much)

 

And I've lost about five pounds.

 

Hm.

And spirit boggling, and body boggling...

 

source:  Pinterest

Until you've lived it, you have no idea.

Even if you went to school, as most of us did, you have no idea.

My student teacher said it best last week,

"This is such a hard job!"

It is, and it's one that never lets go.

Domino

"You don't know what goes on in anyone else's life but your own.  And when you mess with one part of a person's life, you're not messing with just that part.  Unfortunately, you can't be that precise and selective.  When you mess with one part of a person's life, you're messing with their entire life."

     Over break, I read the book Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.  It's a sad book with a hopeful ending.  This expression stayed with me. The intent, shared by the main character who has killed herself before the book begins, is to realize the negative effects we have on others, but it can also be turned to remind us all of the positive impact we can have on others.  

     Expressions of encouragement, a smile, praise, a thank you, a shared laugh can change someone's day, and perhaps save a life.  

     Is that overly dramatic?  I don't agree, I believe it's just plain truth.

Word Art

     I am guilty of this, guilty of what I am about to bash.  I am guilty of taking words out of context, visual sound bites (now THERE's an oxymoron) to share.
     But this word art, these extractions, are getting out of hand.  I blame the lack of people's willingness to read entire books, and lately Pinterest has made it easy to find pithy quotes to share.  Pinterest spills into facebook, and in this case spills onto my blog.
     I like this quote.  It's incredibly ponder worthy...

Thank You

Who could you, should you, might you write a thank you note to today?

That's my question this week.  That's my goal for this day.

To write at least one.  Even though I'm busy.  Even though I'm tired.

Because the nice things people do matter, and they should know.

Spot On

     "I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life." I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

— Maya Angelou

Body Truth

Always looking for things to help free me from a severe dislike of my own body:

"Why am I trying to keep this teenage body when I'm not a teenager and everybody knows it?"

                             --Beverly Johnson (model)

Aiming toward health not skin and bones any more...pointing at my "problem area."

Oh for a Loophole

     "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you."   Jesus is not asking us to simply think warmly about our neighbors, to be nice to our neighbors, to occasionally help our neighbors.  We are being asked to give love.  Love is hard work.  It's not a fuzzy feeling, contrary to what we see on television and hear on the radio.  It means putting someone else before yourself.  It means doing things you may not want to do.  It means going out of your way for someone else.  It may even mean doing all of this when you may not particularly like your neighbor.  There are also no qualifiers on this commandment.  Apparently, we are to love our neighbors even when they fail us, when they are hurtful, and even when they don't love us.  Christ did not leave loopholes.  But the glorious message is that this is how Christ loves us-wholly, fully, unconditionally.

---- The Passionist's daily scripture reflection

     I admit I would love a loophole, but my prayer--which needs to be more constant--must be to stop acting as if there are such loopholes and just love. The best way for me to be at all Christlike is the hardest thing for me to do.

 

Words Can Pack a Self-Wallop

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."

--Dr. Seuss

      My friend "Texan Mama" has this habit of writing posts that make me think.  Her post yesterday was about "owning" blog comments, in other words, wanting those who comment on her blog to share their names along with their thoughts.

      It caused me to make a confession to her, and truthfully to God too, about a blog comment or two that I've left along the way.  And now her post is just making me think, darn it.  So I came home last night and stumbled across the above Seuss words--and they fit so perfectly with what I was wrestling with.

     People think I'm this super confident, often says the right thing kind of person, but I hate confrontation. It makes me sick to my stomach with nerves, but I do have the need to say what I think at times.  I welcome people to disagree with me, as long as there's no attack attached to their disagreement.  But when I feel opposite to what someone is stating, and I know it's important to state it, sometimes no matter how I cushion or craft my words, I can feel upset as I'm delivering them. 
     Why is that?  Why am I such a wuss?  I have been attacked for stating my opinion from time to time, this is true, and I do try to not mind those folks.  For the most part, I get thanked for sharing things, my thoughts and comments are appreciated--so why can't I seem to share them without a churning tummy?

    

"Just Keep Your Head Above"

     This song was particularly important to my friend Vicki.  I, too, have fallen in love with it.  Please, I know there a lot of blogs out there that link to the blogger's favorite songs, but if you're feeling at all down, or if you're feeling like a challenge is headed your way, please take a moment and listen to this song--even if you've heard it before.
      You will feel stronger, I promise.  And then, when you're done listening, do me a favor?  Say "Vicki Miller," out loud.  Lots of people are missing her still and always.

  "Vicki Miller."

Swim

You've gotta swim
Swim for your life
Swim for the music
That saves you
When you're not so sure you'll survive
You gotta swim
And swim when it hurts
The whole world is watching
You haven't come this far
To fall off the earth
The currents will pull you
Away from your love
Just keep your head above

I found a tidal wave
Begging to tear down the dawn
Memories like bullets
They fired at me from a gun
A crack in the armor
I swim to brighter days
Despite the absence of sun
Choking on salt water
I'm not giving in
I swim

You gotta swim
Through nights that won't end
Swim for your families
Your lovers your sisters
And brothers and friends
Yeah you've gotta swim
Through wars without cause
Swim for the lost politicians
Who don't see their greed as a flaw

The currents will pull us
Away from our love
Just keep your head above

I found a tidal wave
Begging to tear down the dawn
Memories like bullets
They fired at me from a gun
Cracking me open now
I swim for brighter days
Despite the absence of sun
Choking on salt water
I'm not giving in
Well I'm not giving in
I swim

You gotta swim
Swim in the dark
There's no shame in drifting
Feel the tide shifting and wait for the spark
Yeah you've gotta swim
Don't let yourself sink
Just find the horizon
I promise you it's not as far as you think
The currents will drag us away from our love
Just keep your head above
Just keep your head above
Swim
Just keep your head above
Swim, swim
Just keep your head above
Swim

For more on the story of "Swim," click here.

Encouragement from My Friend Helen

"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. 
You just run."

- John Bingham, 

American marathon runner

Helen made me cry by writing this on my facebook wall last night when I was hurting about something else. She didn't know I was sad, but she helped me anyway.

See, you just never know when a kind word will soften a heart.  
I ran, only a bit, but I ran.  I came back upstairs, read this, then I cried a bit, only a bit, and all around I felt tired but so much better.

WWWforW

I guess you could say I have this going for me...

"A reality check:  If you're going to have a little extra padding, it's less harmful for your health for it to be around your hips and thighs than your stomach.  You're at less risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes with a pear shape."

source:  Weight Watchers. "Curve Appeal," May/June 2011, pages 145-147.

Weight Watchers Words for Wednesday, in this case...

As They Grow

"Treat a person as he is, and he will remain as he is.  

Treat him as he could be, 

and he will become what he should be."

--Jimmy Johnson

I see this come true often at school. I need to work at it more, to see the potential of every child more fully.  To remember always, not just time to time, how much each child matters to this world.

Lord, may I not get so bogged down in the day-to-day that I forget what a blessing each of my students is to me and to your world.

Timely still

I had this post planned, these borrowed and wonderful words, before I shared my 15th of the month verse for my verse memorization challenge.  It's rare that my blog consists only of words from others' mouths or others' pens in consecutive posts, but I wanted to share these words for this Wednesday.  There is so much division in the world; we can have unity while respecting our diversity.

Though we have grown, the differences between us have shifted and changed, but I'm not sure they have diminished.  I am one of the children JFK spoke of, a small child when this sentiment was first expressed, but the challenges face us nearly fifty years later.

Hope for our children now...

"So, let us not be blind to our differences--

but let us also direct attention to our common

interests and to the means by which those

differences can be resolved. 

And if we cannot end now our differences,

at least we can help make the world

safe for diversity.

For, in the final analysis, our most basic

common link is that

we all inhabit this small planet.

We all breathe the same air.

We all cherish our children's future.

And we are all mortal."

John F. Kennedy, June 10, 1963

photo source

Words for Right Now

There are always scary things happening in the world.

There are always wonderful things happening.

And it's up to you to decide how you're going

to approach the world...

how you're going to live in it, and what you're going to do.

--Jo Ellen Chapman

Fictional character in 

Deborah Wiles' 

Countdown

Scholastic Press, 2010

Yes, Fear

     To fear God is to be in awe of his power and knowledge. To fear him is to bow before mysteries we can never comprehend, like the fact that God gave us freedom to choose, even though our free choices often have dire consequences for ourselves and others. To fear God is to dare to believe that he created each one of us to know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever.  God is so much greater than we could ever ask, and so much closer than we could ever imagine. He loves us so much that he has taken on our flesh, forgiven our sins, and defeated our most terrifying enemies—even the last enemy, death. This is a God to love, a God to reverence, and a God to honor with our whole lives! 
                                                                                                                                                   ---- The Word Among Us

Words for Work Wednesday

The word "data" is thrown around more than you would know in education. 

At one faculty meeting, maybe two years ago, 

I listened. 
An administrator, whom I do respect, was speaking of data.
He used the word so many times.
I started to pray, to stay calm.
Then I went beyond that.

Prayed I would say the right thing.  

Prayed that I wouldn't sound like an idiot.

See, I'm not so good with data.

I don't always understand it.

For the most part, that's okay.

Because...

I don't spend my days in my classroom with data.

I spend my days with kids. 

Children.

And I love them.

So I said that--essentially anyway--because it needed to be said.
My co-workers agreed. 
They thanked me.

To me..to us...

Your child is more than a test score.

Our school is more than tests scores.

If a child has challenges, sometimes it's hard to collect data to support my observation, but it doesn't make my observation less true.

I know kids.

So last night, when this T shirt popped up on the margin of my facebook page?

I laughed.

But then I was sad.

"Data driven" decisions often make me cry...

(image found here)

Second question this week...

In light of everything that's happening--

how should I be living?

This is a borrowed question, and I'll tell you where I first heard it once you answer it...

Keep Calm?

     Okay, I'm still a novice, so knitting doesn't always have a soothing effect on me--yet.  But I may have to order one of these anyway...

     Don't you just love etsy?   The above would be for home, the next one for the classroom.  You see, even though I am a good teacher, I could use this reminder from time to time too:

Sometimes we forget, Joseph rocked

 ¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
 ²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
 ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Matthew 1:18-23 NIV