First day of English teaching, I had the worst attitude ever. I was so tired, didn’t want to teach, and not looking forward to going into it blindly. I was kind of dreading it.
It felt so foreign to me to be someone with authority with absolutely no idea what to do. I took a back burner as one of the interns with inca link led our group. She wasn’t stressed. Instead, she had patience and grace with the students as she explained things. As I watched her, God began to remind me that the purpose of this class is to show people Jesus. There is no need to stress about doing everything perfectly or having a prepared lesson plan. It’s all about the relationships we are forming. If we can be a light, these people will notice something different. It won’t matter when one of us messes up a word in Spanish and accidentally says “balls” instead of “drawers” (yes, that happened). In noticing our joy and the way we love, maybe they will begin to show interest in our source.
Actually, not maybe. We have already seen fruit from this ministry. After one full week of English class, we went to church this week and saw some of our students!
I am so thankful for the change of perspective. I now look forward to going to English class each day to laugh with these people. I wonder if we all were to approach these things we dreaded with the perspective of it being a chance to love on others (all of our ultimate calling), how would our lives look different? Reflecting on my daily life pre-race, this would’ve made a huge difference in how I approached work. It would’ve allowed me to enjoy it so much more, and in doing so, allowed me to be a greater influence in the people’s lives I had the opportunity to come in contact with.
I encourage you to change your perspective and look for those opportunities to love others.
(One of our English classes)
