Many of my friends have talents and passions that I have seen in them from the start of college. One friend is bound to be the President of the United States. Her drive, ambition, and loving attitude would get my vote. She would drop anything she is doing to come help you. She had these qualities every since I met her. At her wedding, people pointed out the same qualities that myself and others have seen.
Another friend has quick wit and knows how to make people laugh. She has huge dreams that I know she will achieve one day. She knows how to use her sass to help break the ice at any event and always makes people want to know her more.
Both of these people have talents that are beautiful and obviously God-given and they use these talents to help others want to know Jesus more. I could call out many other friends to tell how they use their talents in their jobs and with their friends and I am sure you could think about your friends the same way.
But where do we come up with our passions? Is it games that we played as kids, sports that we enjoyed, being raised a certain way? Maybe it is the friends we hang out with or the college we went to. But if that was the case, wouldn’t we all be similar and not as unique as we are? We could have jobs with like-minded people, but doesn’t each person bring a different perspective to the team?
I discovered my passion at a young age. I always loved kids and felt comfortable around them. I was thrilled when a lady at my church asked me at the age of 14 to babysit her two kids for a few hours. I babysat over the weekends and helped with VBS in middle school and high school. In college I worked at an after school program, tutored refugees, worked at church camps, etc. I had a lightbulb moment at some point of my life. I don’t know what caused it or how my passions molded, but I do know that my small love for kids grew to my career.
I have had the opportunity to watch 6-year-old beautiful humans begin to discover themselves and their passions. Sometimes I like to sit and listen to their conversations or watch them play and think “what are you going to do with your life.” They are each beautifully and wonderfully made and each bring such great joy to my life and the lives of others.
Since it is the end of the school year, we get to have “fun centers” as the kids call it where they play puzzles or write “fun journal entries” and I was listening to a conversation with three girls. She was looking at her beginning of the year photo where they had to say what they wanted to be when they grew up. She told me on the first day that she wanted to be a “helper.” When I asked her to tell me more she said “You know… help people who need you.” 168 school days later, the same little girl looked down at her picture and said “I think I know a little more about what it means to be a helper and I think the kind of helper I want to be is the one that helps kids who don’t have mommies or daddies.” This little girl discovered a passion she has. This child has a heart of gold. She is compassionate and a great listener. She is someone that friends go to often. I see little glimpses into the character of this child as an adult, and it makes me proud. I don’t know what she’ll be doing in 18 years, but I do know that this small lightbulb moment is going to help change the world.
I watch these kids come into the classroom with glazed looks, scared about the jump from kindergarten to first. They don’t love books at the beginning of the school year. They haven’t figured out which chapter book they want to get lost in. They are still learning how to express their feelings, say when they are mad, say what’s wrong when they are sad. They are growing and learning 6-year-olds.
Now I get to say see you soon to blossoming 7-year-olds who you constantly have to remind to put the book away and listen, who’s writing turned from “write two words to describe the character and draw a picture” to “analyze the character using adjectives in 5-6 sentences.” But most important, you get to learn 21 different kids with different talents.
One kid HATES bugs. One kid is obsessed with Goosebumps. One kid needs a hug every morning when she comes in and will not go to her seat till she gets one. One kid despises mornings so you better not talk to him. The secret to getting one boy to write is to place his teddy bear on the side of the desk and say “I’m sure Teddy would love to read your writing.” Or another boy gets SO excited about writing when you have him write about Harry Potter or Batman.
You learn these 21 kids because you love these 21 kids. My job is for sure not an easy job. There are days I come home frustrated and annoyed but I walk away each day praying that no matter how the day went, they do not have a doubt that they are not loved.
At church on Sunday, the sermon was on love and the pastor said “As we start loving Jesus more, we start loving people more like Jesus loves.” My heart exploded on Sunday and I had a very embarrassing bathroom sob session in the middle of church because my heart is overwhelmed with love for my 21 kids who are all beautiful in their own way.
Think about that for a moment. If we all have passions and talents that are different and unique to us, what would the world look like if we took those passions and talents and tied in the love of Christ with them? If you love your family and coworkers or, in my case, small humans, and loved them like Jesus loves you, you have your mission field! Mission work is not always doing what I am doing for 11 months. It is loving others around you intentionally. Mission work is taking your talent and your passion, combining that with love, and desiring to share and tell others about Jesus.
I am sad to leave Nashville but right now I am HEARTBROKEN to leave my 21 kids. I want to be a smiling face in the hall when they are sad, I want to have them come to my class and show me their big kid second grade work. I want them to view me as someone they can trust and love if they need me. I cannot next year and that makes me sad. But what I am excited about is the fact that I have had the opportunity to see lightbulb moments of passion and talent flash into these now 7-year-olds’ eyes. The Lord works in our lives at such a young age. He is moving and working in the lives of my 21 kids. He is orchestrating mine, theirs, and our lives not to better ourselves but to help us point others to him.
I encourage you to rediscover your passion. See what makes you happy and what others compliment you on. These are the talents that God has given you. Then I encourage you to take it a step further. See what God has planned for you and loving others. Who is he calling you to love? Maybe it is one person, maybe it is a coworker, maybe it is multiple people. I have my list in my head, now I have to trust that God will use me.
