I work with "special needs" kids, mostly Kindergarten and First Grade. They have a special place in my heart. I'm calling them by fake names to protect their rights, but when you pray for them, God will know who you are talking about.
One of our students, "Susie", is leaving our district for a new foster home, and I will miss her terribly. I'm asking myself, "Have I taught her anything?" I bought her a small gift to remember our group by, and the whole time I found myself thinking that what I REALLY want to give her is the love and protection of a family! A family that is always there! No CPS. No police. No bouncing from home to home and learning a new set of rules each time. She deserves to be loved and respected and listened to. All I could do is teach her to hug herself every morning, tell herself "I love you" and say out loud, "this will be a great day!" But I'd really rather give her a lifetime of good days, and coping skills for the bad ones. I'd really like to give her the knowledge that she is wonderfully made in the image and likeness of God, because He loves her and wants her to know it. I'd really like to give her some Jesus. Please pray for her with me.
Jesus isn't taught at our public school, but if you think he's absent, you would be mistaken. He walks the halls. He helps with tests. He inspires the teaching staff when they have hit the wall. He smiles at the funny stuff, and cries with the sad stuff. He lives in a lot of different bodies, and has a lot of different titles: Teacher, custodian, librarian, parapro, student, principal, recess lady, lunch lady, bus driver. The list goes on and on. We are all called to be Jesus to each other, and especially to the kids. They need to know they are loved, respected, and valued, and that's what we do at school. How can you put a dollar amount on that?
"Johnny" needs help discovering that "ennemmenno-fee" is not a letter. (His speech is difficult, at best.) Most people don't take the time to listen and "decode" what he's saying. Boy are they missing out! He's a clever kid with a great sense of humor. He cracks jokes a lot, and if you're listening hard, he's got some good ones. He also knows a lot of words that are inappropriate for school, yet not quite a curse word. "Butt Crack" for example, was his favorite for a while. He's also a very deep thinker. He asks how God made the world, and why. He wants to know what God did with the dinosaurs. Good question. I don't know.
So, I look at this boy and wonder. Am I helping him? We go over our letters again and again and again. I tell him funny ways to remember things. Humor sticks for him. He calls the letter T "Mr. T" and says he "has a real cool haircut and a mean mean look in his eye." (Anyone else remember that ad?) I'm teaching him his letters, but I hope he's learning that he's worth taking the time to listen to. He's small, asthmatic, pale, usually has a snotty nose, and is hard to understand. Life is going to kick this kid around A LOT! I need to teach him as much as I can! I'm just not that good of a teacher, but I know the best teacher. The Rabbi. I can pray for Johnny. Please, pray with me for this guy.
Then there's Robert. My mom used to say I moved so slowly she'd have to draw a line to see if I moved at all. That's Robert. He does everything S-l-o-w-l-y. He once spent 20 minutes washing his hands. They were quite clean. He talks slowly, processes slowly. It's like the rest of the world is on high-speed internet and he's on dial-up. Like his buddy, Johnny, you have to really listen to understand what he's saying. His speech is fine, just pain-stakingly slow. So, one day Robert is walking down the hall with me and he does this weird little jump-step. He keeps doing it over and over and over. I was a little concerned he was having a seizure or something, so I asked him. "What are you doing?" He said (very slowly),"I...want...to...skip!" So we went into the gym and I told him to skip away! He skipped the whole gym end to end. You've never seen such a happy skipper!
That's when it hit me. HE doesn't have a problem, I DO! This boy just wants to skip. I worry and wonder what will become of these kids. I read and study and look for the right lessons, or the best therapies to help them achieve some level of success. He measures his success by getting to skip! He's got some Jesus, and I'm trying too hard. A lively, free-spirited, skipping Jesus is smiling (and probably racing) with this kid in the gym of OUR elementary school.
It's amazing to me how working at the school feeds my soul. I don't make a lot of money, (I'm not complaining) but what I earn is priceless. If our pay was equivalent to our value, we'd all be rich beyond measure!
No comments:
Post a Comment