Running in the Rainstorms: Hard Work

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24

So I'll be honest, I have heard/quoted/had quoted at me this verse many a time in the past. It has never really meant much to me.... it sounds nice and Sunday School-ish but it didn't mean much.

But another one of the amazing ways God is teaching and molding me this year is that I now understand exactly what this verse means and know how to do this.

If I were working for men... believe me, I would not have spent my Friday night in the gym at Kingsbury watching my team lose by 53 points. I would not have borrowed 80 microscope slides to let my kids look at cells up close, and then washed the slides by hand to return them to their owner. And honestly, I wouldn't even be spending 7 am-2:15 pm with a bunch of angsty preteens.

Good thing I am not working for men. The Lord has given me such huge gifts of teaching, patience, and endurance this year that sometimes I still can't believe it. I was already feeling like this during the break, but after being back for a week I can say for certain, I LOVE this job. And I love the Lord for helping me love it. I spent 7 hours today preparing for the coming week, and not a second of it was drudgery. It was exciting and fun (except for the sad moment when I graded last week's quizzes and saw those dismal numbers) and enjoyable.

I would NEVER have thought I would say that about a Saturday full of school work even just 2 months ago. I thought I already knew a lot about God's character but he is revealing to me in all new ways this year how incredible, crazy powerful, and unthinkable his ways are.

I took some pictures of our microscope days and have attached a few below... they're so cute!