God is so good!

He did it - He brought me through yet another crunch-time experience. Like always, this felt like the worst time ever. This post was originally going to be earlier in the week when I was exuberant about not only completing all these hurdles but doing so early - however, I ended up needing to do some last minute alterations after all. In any case, La Trobe University is finished!

Can I do it?

Two weeks.

On Friday the 29th of August, I will hopefully submit the last of the assessment items crowding this month's to-do list. Between now and then, I have to design a poster, assemble a teaching kit, make some kind of contribution to a debate forum, and catch up on four weeks of coursework for submission.

Two weeks.

I'm wondering, can I do it? Often I have found myself in the crunch and wondered if I would pull through one more time. I've stood at the foot of To-Do Mountain, thinking, this time it really is insurmountable, and somehow mustered the strength to push on anyway. Always before God has brought me through. Will He help me traverse this path again, or will He choose to use this mountain to teach me a different way?

Two weeks.

People don't seem to understand that I feel the pressure of work and assignments just as much as everyone else. They look at my past achievements and label me 'A'. What are you stressed about? they ask, almost as if to deny me any right to feel anxious, You always do well. To them, my mountain has a highway cut straight through the middle, along which I am able to slowly meander, carefree as can be. They don't see that I must in fact scale the cliff right beside them and trek the same rugged terrain. My past is only testimony to hard work, and even more so to God's work in me to bring me through.

Two weeks.

Those two words repeat in my head, rhythmic like a runner's feet pounding one in front of the other, over and over. As I run and climb this mountain, my body grows tired. My eyes feel strained, and my legs and shoulders ache and cramp. Keep on running, keep on climbing, keep on working, keep on, keep on...

Two weeks.

Can I do it, one more time?

Now a Jedi

The friend I mentioned in an early post has now finished their training. Well done on the long years of hard work, and congratulations on your new qualification! :)

A convincing act

I was in the middle of teaching an English session with my grade 3/4 class. The students were working quietly and were well-focused, and I was circulating around the room monitoring their work, as you do.

An idea suddenly occurred to Daniel and he looked up from his work to ask, "Hey, how come we don't have any student teachers anymore?"

I smiled and replied, "I'm sure you'll have some more soon."

Unbeknown to them, I am currently their student teacher, working in their class for a day and a half on top of my specialist classes. To them, I am just the specialist teacher, for some odd reason helping out with a couple of sessions. I must be convincing!

No more training do you require

No more training do you require. Already know you that which you need.

So a wise Muppet once said in the classic film, Return of the Jedi.

I was talking with a friend who was wrestling with the final components of his apprenticeship training, when the quote came to mind. In my friend's case, the quote was quite fitting, as he must complete these training modules out of formality in order to prove the skills and knowledge he has been competent in for quite some time already.

In its original context, Yoda is speaking to Luke Skywalker, who has returned to complete his Jedi training after rushing off to rescue his friends from Darth Vader. Yoda tells Luke that he already knows everything he needs.

I think this situation describes a lot of us, as we continue to worry about personal development which we don't really need. I often feel like I'm under-prepared for things I do, like I've still go so much to learn, and so far to go before I'll be ready to take on big challenges. I think we all feel like that at times as we live for God. We can feel lacking in spiritual maturity, or unqualified to follow God's calling.

But God's grace says to us: no more training do you require. Already know you that which you need. We don't need to wait until we're 'super-spiritual' before we're allowed to follow God. We don't need to feel inadequate to serve God just because of our backgrounds or the amount of time we've been Christians. We can rest assured that we have all we need to connect with God right now. God has already provided us with all we require to live as effective Christians.

As Yoda's dialogue is largely based on Buddhist teachings, this analogy of course can only be taken so far. Obviously, there is a place in the Christian walk for development and continual learning as we strive for Christlikeness. After Yoda's comment, Luke jumped to the conclusion: "Then I am a Jedi", to which Yoda laughed and reminded him that he had not arrived yet. We will never quite "arrive" (Phil 3:12-14), but we can take comfort in the fact that we already know all that we need for what God is calling us to today.

Countdown

Four days until the holidays...! My how the dauntingly long 12-week term has disappeared! Not to mention the second last semester of uni - ever! Anyone else feeling old?

Why would I want to work with children?

I don't consider myself to be fantastic at working with kids, or perhaps even passionate about it to the exclusion of all else. Everyone knows it can be a real headache at times, but then there are those occasions where it's pure pleasure to have the honoured privilege of working with these young individuals. They have such a different way of seeing the world, and the most disarming sense of humour at times. Check this out...

A grade four student, reading the staff room duty roster attached to my work folder, thought he was very clever to discover my first name.

"Is your first name Steffanie?" he asked somewhat cheekily.

"Yes," I answered, and left it at that, which for some reason he interpreted as displeasure.

"Aw, don't be embarrassed," he continued, "My first name's Tom, you know."

Having taught him for six months, I was fully aware of both his first and last names, and could only smile at the complete randomness of such a comment. It makes me wonder at how they come up with these things.

Please note, in all anecdotes students' names have been changed for anonymity.