I know it’s a couple of days late, but please click the following link, A Praiseworthy King, to check out my contribution to FPU’s 2016 "Calling All Peace-Builders" Advent Devotional. It’s on page 22.
During my junior year of college, I interned at Shriners Hospital in Sacramento. At the time, I wanted to be a Child Life Specialist (Child Life Specialist) and did my internship in this department.
Shriners specializes in treating children with severe burns (among other things) and my duties included reading to, playing with, and checking up on, several children that had third degree burns over 90% of their body...
Emotional (aka, soul) work is the hardest work an individual will ever do (at least in my non-professional opinion).
In fact, it flat out sucks.
However, it’s always worth it...
A month ago, during a bout of emotional turmoil, I made the following comment to a girlfriend of mine, “I don’t want any of this on my canvas” (cf. Blank Canvas, Dreaming Season, Paint A Picture For Me).
She didn’t say anything in the moment, nor did I think much of my offhanded remark, however, several days later, she responded via text, “I was praying for you and recalled your statement about not wanting this on your canvas, and I felt the Lord say, ‘I’m not painting some happy Thomas Kinkade painting, I’m painting a masterpiece, something that will withstand the test of time, that will be a legacy unto me for generations to come, and yes, there is pain and struggle, but how much greater the redemption. Jess needs to remember that while this canvas is for her, it is also to showcase my glory, my magnificence, my power, and my redeeming love...
1) Like all of life, teaching is about relationship. Without relationship, the content rarely gets through.
2) My most astute, and academically capable students, are also the ones who give me the most problems.
3) Students are actually interested in what I have to say...