Giving Thanks; Getting Priorities Straight

At a church retreat a few weeks ago, the focus of our worship sessions was on "rest." Specifically, rest in the Sabbath sense.  Our pastor mentioned that a lot of teachers she knows use Sunday at church to compare how much work they would need to do that Sunday, in order to prepare for the coming week.

"Now, the sin of remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy is on the same list of ten sins that includes murder, adultery, idolatry... We would think it horrible to sit around comparing how good we were at committing any of the other sins on this list... How many people we murdered, for example... So why is it considered a positive thing to have worked the most on the Sabbath?"

Thanks, Joanna.  Point taken.  But now I feel guilty whenever I need to do some work on Sunday to prepare for teaching.

I decided that maybe I should redefine my personal Sabbath as beginning Saturday morning and ending approximately Sunday at noon (preferably with a celebratory feast at the Sunday buffet at India Palace).

It seems like usually my resting happens best when I am furthest removed from the school setting.  Time-wise and distance-wise, that occurs on Saturday... By Sunday afternoon, I am usually mentally reconfiguring, resetting my demeanor and hardening my endurance for another week at school.

This week was a great week for rest.  That point of furthest distance and optimum rest occurred sometime Friday evening, surrounded by my extended family, during a Tupperware/soup-and-salad/impromptu-deer-hunt-party in Liberty, Kansas.

By Saturday afternoon I was feeling very refreshed and very thankful for a loving and interesting family, a successful Thanksgiving, and a gym membership that starts today.

I was prepared to head back to real life, but maybe not real life as usual.  After some interesting and helpful conversations with family members this weekend, I'm coming back with some new resolutions.  I know it's not the normal time for these, but maybe by January 1st, I can consider it my one-month check-up to see how I'm doing.

Besides, I like making lists and goals, and I think they are appropriate just about any time that the mood strikes.


Resolved: 
I will find someone to help out with Scholars' Bowl and take some of the time-pressure off my plate.  Someone who is willing to take it over next year because I will not be continuing in my role as one-and-only coach. 


I will make a conscious effort to pursue my interest in agricultural policy, through studying up on agricultural history in Kansas and the midwest, and conducting a little informal research through conversations with farmers across the political spectrum.  

I will devote more of my "working" attention to my teaching itself, rather than to my extra-curricular activities, as teaching and learning are my priorities in this job.  

Theoretically I will enjoy life more... And because I'll be happier I will enjoy teaching more, and my students and I will enjoy each other more...

That's the plan at least.  Every day, in every way, things are getting better and better.  Right?

P.S. My sister is in Egypt.  She has much more interesting subject matter than I do.  Everyone should read it: http://rachelcfriesen.blogspot.com/