Lent Devotional – It All Adds Up

I’ve spent almost twenty years in classrooms. If you include my own education, that number climbs to around forty. I’ve taught first graders all the way to seventh graders and every grade in between. (Yes, every single one!) Currently, I spend my days with fifth graders as I attempt to instill in them a love or at least a tolerance for math.

I was asked to write about how my belief in Jesus informs how I do my job. I guess that it’s as simple as thinking of my students in the same manner in which I think of my own children. They are God’s children under my care for the 70 minutes that they sit in my classroom each day.

Besides math, I do my best to teach them how to be good humans as Jesus did when he lived among the people.  I try to model what is good and right. I put on a smile and have a positive attitude (most days).  I speak to them about how to treat each other. I am compassionate and understanding. However, I am certainly no Jesus, so I call upon him for strength and guidance, especially on those days when my patience is wearing thin. I use that moment of silence right after the pledges to ask for His help. “Father, help me be tolerant. Give me the knowledge to teach them fractions.  Lord, help me be the best that I can be today.”  It is only when we are our best selves that we are able to help others be their best selves. I love my job even with its challenges, and I am thankful that I have the opportunity to impact others in the ways of Jesus. It’s not just me, though, in my profession. Don’t we all have the opportunity to positively impact those whose lives we touch?

Courtney Holland

5th Grade Math Teacher at Sloan Creek Intermediate School, Lovejoy ISD