What You Love

When you get a chance to make a living doing what you love, that's pretty sweet.

This week, I felt especially blessed in this way for two specific times:

1) Sharing "It's a Wonderful Life" with my 6th graders - As a wrap-up for our final unit before the holiday break, we've been learning about moral decision-making. Tomorrow (after having watched the movie all week), students will complete a project in which they will determine the morality of some of the choices of George Bailey & others in the movie. In addition, they will look at how Hollywood portrays prayer, God, etc.
While watching the end of the movie today (with both classes), I teared up. There's something about that movie and its message about friendship and family being what makes us rich. When students left my class remarking, "That was such a great movie" and "This is my new favorite Christmas movie" (and actually meaning it), I knew it was worth the time we spent. These kids need to see holiday classics like this. Personally, I think it's one of the greatest (if not greatest) movies of all time.

2) Leading the 6th graders in signing "Silent Night" at the Christmas program - The kiddos did such a great job. The principal was nearly in tears when she told me how beautiful it looked. And one parent commented, "I wish I could have just watched you the whole time. You were so graceful." All of it made me smile - because I had shared something that I had grown up with and loved with my students, and now, they are loving it too. (In fact, I had to remind the 5th and 7th graders not to sign during the show because it wasn't their turn.)

It's not every day that I feel I am doing what I love; though, overall, teaching is something I find very special and worthwhile indeed. But this week, I feel like I am so blessed. I've been encouraged and able to share things I love - and that, in a profession, makes all the difference in the world, in my humble opinion...


"Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in Love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in Love, stay in love, and it will decide everything." (Pedro Arrupe)