School and Scenery

The past couple days, as I was leaving school (earlier than usual...it wasn't dark yet), I looked around at the hills and I got the strangest impression that just where I stopped seeing light, that everything else was a magnificent painting. The sun was just at the right angle behind the hills to create perfectly smooth, grey silhouettes creating a 2-D illusion that really was magnificent. Today, it was cloudy, and it looked like the hills were on fire--the yellow plumes radiated in arcs from the top, creating a scene lovely enough to take my breath away. I love where my school is. Even if it's far away...I feel like it's in a separate wonderland. And just think, God didn't have to make the world so pretty, but He did! He is a God that loves beauty...and a God that defines beauty. It's truly awesome to behold. I am blessed to be surrounded by it, lifted up on a hill above the rest of the world into a safe haven, where God's grace and mercy can be made so evident.

So on Monday, I was at Truth Project, which is a program for staff development at Valley where teachers watch a video series from Focus on the Family and then discuss the content. It's pretty cool--this past Monday, the topic was "Labor," and he started by saying that humans were made to create things. That God made us for 6 days to work, because HE worked for 6 days and then rested. He gave us the model of a week because that's the model HE used. How cool is that?! Furthermore, the teacher (I still don't remember his name...after 11 weeks of listening to him) made it a point to say that our labor, our work is NOT a result of the Fall. God didn't give us work as a punishment, He gave us work because He created us to bring Him glory through our actions. (For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:10) And when we are doing the wholesome things that He made us enjoy, we bring Him glory! So that means I can bring God glory by baking, or running or playing with little kids! And hey...I like doing those things! Furthermore...I can bring glory to God by working at my job and doing my best at my job! The teacher pointed out that perhaps the "Sabbath commandment" in Old Testament is perhaps not so much for "rest" to recover from work as it is to tear us away from the bustle (and joy) of working so that we can remember who it was that gave us the joyous work and reflect on His goodness in our lives.

Maybe other more mature Christians have thought about this a lot already, but this was a really novel concept to me! My impression of "the Sabbath" comes from Fiddler on the Roof, where he's rushing to get his work done so that he doesn't break the Sabbath by working, and Little House on the Prairie, where Laura is chafing against sitting still and doing quiet things on Sundays instead of running around and playing.

Anyways, one last thing the teacher that is sticking in my head is just how blessed I am to wake up in the mornings wanting to go to work. I know that not all my friends have such a blessing, and God has been incredibly good to me (when I definitely do NOT deserve it). Even four months in, I still wake up eager to get to school to plan, teach, hang out with my kids, and (eventually) grade things. God has been incredibly good, because He is more good than I can even imagine! =) I am happy.