This week a group of ten elementary education majors went with our teacher, Mrs. Pennington, to Georgia’s annual Pre-Service Teaching Reading Conference in Athens, Georgia. Mrs. Pennington emailed us over the summer to tell us to sign up for the conference. She said that the spots get taken fast and that the conference was a great resource and free! So Wednesday night 10 of us girls and our teacher piled into two cars to drive up to the conference. By the time we made it to Athen’s we were all exhausted and barely even had enough energy to make it to our cozy beds before falling asleep.

The conference began bright and early Thursday morning. We got red bags filled with goodies when we got there. Oh my goodness, the goody bags were every teachers dream. They were stuffed with children’s books, magnetic letters, mini dry erase boards, and textbooks. We had a wonderful breakfast and then headed to our first meeting with our key note speaker, Eric Litwin, the author of Pete The Cat, I Love My White Shoes. What a show he put on! Not only does Eric Litwin write books, he has also produced several Cd’s and has a heart to help teachers become effective instructors. It wasn’t five minutes before he had us teachers singing and dancing with him. As I watched everyone around me I just laughed. I definitely chose the best profession. Sure there’s a lot of days I’m completely overwhelmed by the job, but as I looked at all the teachers singing and dancing I was reminded of the side of teaching that can bring so much joy to someone’s life.

After the key note speaker finished we separated into groups and went to small sessions. They were so helpful and practical. Some of them were simply lectures; other’s were interactive where we actually did activities we might do with our students. That’s one thing that I love about my education classes whether they’re at Covenant or sessions at a conference the instructors always know the most effective and interesting ways of presenting information. After a full day of sessions us girls went out to eat at a local restaurant. We spent hours talking about girl stuff. Mrs. Pennington told us how she met her husband and several of the girls who are recently engaged told us their stories. After a enjoyable and leisurely dinner we headed back to our hotel and went to the hot tub. We spent the next several hours talking about education with Mrs. Pennington. It was so nice being able to talk with our teacher outside of the classroom. We got to ask questions and ask her opinion about things we just don’t have time for when in he class. After two hours of soaking the water and the conversation in for two hours we headed back up to one of our rooms to watch one of our favorite television shows.

Friday was full with more sessions. Perhaps the happiest part of Friday was when I got my two 4 inch binders of lesson plans. Let’s just say I definitely feel ready for my first year of teaching. With all the material, information, and discussions I have had the past few days I am so excited to get into the classroom!

This week I had lunch with one of my dearest friends from Covenant, Olivia Perry. We have gone through a lot together and although the time we get to spend together now seems few and far between whenever we find the time we always pick up right where we left off. I find so much joy and encouragement in the time I spend with her. In our conversation we talked about the importance of every person finding his or her ‘Olivia.’ An ‘Olivia’ is the friend who will teach you the true meaning of love and who will help you through the times you never thought you would be able to make it through. These friends do not come by easily though. You have to be purposeful in finding them. You have to pray for them; you have to search for them. When you find that friend, you have to work hard at the relationship. You have to work hard to be completely honest with that person so that they can know how to love you better. It is in that honesty and love that you find your ‘Olivia.’ God has blessed me with many ‘Olivia’s’ here at Covenant. God spreads his love on me through them every day.

I just encourage you guys that as your senior year comes to an end and you start getting scared to leave all your high school friends to start praying for God to put an ‘Olivia’ in your life when you get to college. If that friend isn’t there right away don’t get scared, look for how God might love you through other type of relationships and continue to search for that one person you can be the most honest with.

Today I walked into the exact classroom I want to teach in. I had to do a classroom observation for my Teaching Reading to Students class. I went to a local school and was in a first grade classroom. The class was so amazing. The walls were covered with posters, charts, standards, rules, etc. I don’t think there was a single space free. As we education majors say, it was a print rich environment. There was large carpet space with a rocking chair and a cushioned yellow chair for the teacher. The desks were collaborated into clusters of fours and on one side of the room by the window there was a large yellow couch. The teacher had an antique pink chair accompanying her metal school issued desk. But her desk was decorated just as elegantly as her chair. She had a pink and green lamp and a vase of yellow dandelions. Above her desk were three large pink picture boards where she put pictures that students had given her and some pictures of her own up.

When the teacher started instruction the class was so attentive even with the added distraction of having a stranger in the room. They all were excited about what they were learning and asked questions and made comments about the whale book they were reading aloud. The children were sent to go do some small group work while the teacher worked with a special group of students on their reading. After a while, the teacher left the group with another lady who came in and went around to look at the progress the groups were making. She curled up on the floor with the students and looked at their projects. She laughed and made jokes with them. It was so obvious how much she loved her students.

Oh my goodness guys sometimes I can not wait to be a teacher! I mean most of the time it just freaks me out, but then there are the times when I’m just so excited about it. Only a year left before that will be me in the room teaching a group of my own 25 students. Ahh! I have so much to learn before then!

This week one of our chapel talks was on silence. Boy was it a good reminder! We all know how easy it is to get caught up in life. We move through our days with our music playing in the background, our friends chatting away, and hundreds of other distractions to break the silence. When do we ever just sit and be silent? Never, is the answer I had to this question. But I was reminded that it is in this silence that Christ speaks to us, it is in this silence that our lives stop spinning circles around us and we can actually begin figuring them out. Some might say that they are even afraid of silence. Oh but guys that silence is so precious, so freeing. I encourage all of you to join me. Turn of your radios on the drive home, crawl into your closet to escape from life’s distractions and just be silent.

A word we have all heard millions of times. Whether it was people asking forgiveness from us, us asking forgiveness from other people, or others telling us about our obligation to forgive one another. It’s funny how often you can hear a word and still not completely understand it. I am still learning what forgiveness is and God continues to give me situations in life to teach me more what it means. One thing that I have learned recently is that forgiveness is not a choice as a Christian. We are all called to forgive. We all know of the man who asks Jesus how many times is one required to forgive his brother and Jesus’ response is 70×7. I think of this and say, “Okay, I get it…I am called to forgive my brothers and sisters over and over again.” It seems like a daunting task, but a clear one at that. But where I get lost I think is what forgiveness actually looks like and what it actually means. I can tell myself that I forgive someone; I can put a smile on my face and tell myself that I have gotten past what that person did to hurt me just because I know it’s the right thing to do. But have I really gotten past it, have I really forgiven them? My flesh holds onto wrongs committed against me tightly, taking pleasure in feeling that it can bask in another’s faults and forget about my own. In order to forgive though, I must humble myself.
Forgiveness is not a power that I have on my own. Sometimes I feel like it is impossible to forgive people, when I have been so hurt by someone I don’t think that I can ever get past it. However, in my humility, I learn that I too can be found guilty of the same things. I find myself in the same position, on my knees begging for forgiveness. Jesus is the one that has forgiven my sins and the sins of those who have wronged me. It was not I who hung on the cross, pleading to God to forgive the ones who put me there because they, “know not what they do.” So I realize now, that the reason why I am called as a Christian to forgive others is because I am a vessel for Christ so that he can spread his forgiveness on them. It is not my forgiveness to give; it is Christ who makes clean. I don’t know if you have ever felt hopeless, stuck thinking that there is nothing you can do to forgive someone. Humble yourself though; remember that the forgiveness that you bestow on others is a symbol of what Christ did for us. We ALL have sinned against one another, we ALL deserve death. Praise be to God for Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins so that we might be wiped clean!

(Disclaimer #1:This is something that I have been thinking and processing through a lot the past couple of months, and I’m still trying to figure it all out. But I hope I was able to make a clear the points I wanted to. If it doesn’t make sense though, talk to me and i’ll try and explain it a little better.
Disclaimer #2: I don’t want you to think that forgiveness is suppose to be an easy task, trust me I know how hard it is. My hope is not to make you guilty so that you will forgive, but that you might feel encouraged knowing that it is not on our own that we forgive but by and through Christ.)

Tonight we had MAC prayer and praise. Have I told you what that is? I can never remember. But just in case…every dorm holds a prayer and praise once every month. It is a time the dorm comes together for worship. We sing songs, scripture is read, and sometimes testimonies are shared. So anyways, tonight’s prayer and praise was on Advent. Our Resident Director was giving an introduction to the evening and explained Advent as being a time of waiting…not only waiting for Christ’s birth but also waiting for Christ’s second coming. It was emphasized that Christ’s birth is not the end…it can’t be the end. He is coming again! The night ended with this verse, which has been on my mind ever since. Revelations 21:3-4

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

What an amazing thing to look forward to! I am so convicted! I very rarely live waiting for this day to come. I often believe the lie that the life I’m living is it. The things that seem so big in my life are so silly though, if I am truly waiting for Christ to come again. How different my life would be, my decisions would be, my thoughts would be if I truly was looking for Christ. What a relief though that this life of mine is not it. The pain that can feel as though it will never go away, will finally fade. The tears that stain my face will be wiped away by God himself! Death that hurts possibly more than anything, will finally be no more! Oh how I yearn for this day! Praise be to God, He is coming again!

This gives me a whole new perspective for this holiday season. It is not only a reminder of Christ coming to earth to save us from our sins, but it is also a reminder to be watching for his second coming.

Matthew 5:25 “Agree with thine adversary quickly.”

Jesus Christ is laying down this principle–Do what you know you must do, now, and do it quickly; if you do not, the inevitable process will begin to work and you will have to pay to the last farthing in pain and agony and distress. God’s laws are unalterable; there is no escape from them. The teaching of Jesus goes straight to the way we are made up.
To see that my adversary gives me my rights is natural; but Jesus says that it is a matter of eternal and imperative importance to me tat I pay my adversary what owe him. From our Lord’s standpoint it does not matter whether I am defrauded or not; what does matter is that I do not defraud. Am I insisting on my rights, or am I paying what I owe from Jesus Christ’s standpoint?
Do things quickly, bring yourself to judgment now. In moral and spiritual matters, you must do it at once; if you do not, the inexorable process will begin to work. God is determined to have His child as pure and clean and white as driven snow, and as long as there is disobedience in any point of His teaching, He will prevent none of the working of His spirit. Our insistence in proving that we are right in nearly always an indication that there has been some point of disobedience. No wonder the Spirit so strongly urges to keep steadfastly in the light!
“Agree with thine adversary quickly.” Have you suddenly turned a corner in any relationship and found you had anger in your heart? Confess it quickly, quickly put it right before God, be reconciled to that one–do it now!