Five Minute Friday: Backwards

Sometimes moving backwards really does move us forward. We have to be willing to look back at what worked and repeat it.

I recently changed jobs. I went back to a job that I had two years ago. For the last two years I was teaching and each day was a struggle to get out of bed … a struggle to put on a smile. I began looking back in my life to see what had worked in the past. I once had a job where I felt celebrated. A job that I looked forward to … or at least didn’t dread.

The job was available and I started back on Monday. It’s the best decision I could have made. I had to move backwards in order to get moving forward with my life. It doesn’t always make sense, but it is true.

It’s like giving up to win … becoming weak to become strong … sacrificing to gain. The concepts I’ve learned in my walk with Jesus are ones that don’t seem to follow the norm. Serving to become great … humbling yourself to be glorified … and finally … backing up to get ahead.

God is trustworthy. We can put our backwards things in His hands and always count on getting the best results. Broken becomes whole … ugly becomes beautiful … nonsense becomes sensical. What a wonderful thought for a Friday.

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Blame it on the eye …

I had eye surgery last Friday. I only had one eye done so it hasn’t been very bad … just somewhat blurry. I’ve been feeling really tired and kind-of nauseous this week and I think it’s probably a result of  the blurriness. It has also had an impact on my teaching.

My students have finished their textbook for this year. They have to take an end of book test before they can move on to the next book. They all failed almost all of the end of book tests. So, what I decided to do is review for a section … retake the test … review for a section … retake the test and so on. So my purpose of reviewing is to ensure that they will pass the test.

Do you think it helps them if I keep answering the question wrong? Today we had this question:

The  _____________ of the fish are big.

(a) gill

(b) gills

(c) gill’s

(d) gills’

The first time I told them it was (c). As I explained it one boy said it should be (d). I reread it and humbly corrected myself. As we reread it I realized the answer was actually supposed to be (b). But by then I was too embarrassed to change my answer again. I decided to count anything right on that one since I had confused them so much.

Can I blame that on the eye surgery?

Really?!

So yesterday I watched Waiting for Superman. I thought it would make me angry, but it turns out that most of it had already been shown in the previews. Anyway, there’s a line where a man says, “Either kids are getting stupider or there’s a problem with our education system.”

Today I was looking at a packet of Pepperoni and noticed this:

Look at this last sentence. Does that really say “DO NOT EAT THIS PACKET”? You tell me … are people getting stupider or is it the education system’s fault?

I went to the doctor yesterday to have something removed from the bottom of my foot. Yes … that sounds nasty. It was just a bump on the ball of my foot. I could feel it when I walked and it was driving me crazy. The doctor asked, “So has this been hurting?” I said, “Not really, but my left foot is really sensitive to socks and things. I can feel it and it really bothers me.” “Your feet are very calloused, do you work out a lot?”, asked the doctor. “No I don’t work out at all. I just wear my shoes too big so my feet slide around a lot”, said the freaky lady with the bump on her foot.

… I think that I’ve gotten stupider since I became a teacher. Maybe it really is the education system that is messing us ALL up.

**** I’m adding this onto this post because it was really cute. I was at the eye doctor this morning. A grandmother was there watching the three children while the mom was in the doctor. The boy, who had already announced that he was in first grade, went to the restroom. He came out and said, “Nana, they’re rich in there.” She quickly told him, “Shhh.” He said, “Really, go look, the part where you wash your hands is golden.” It was really cute.

Southbound

Today’s story of the day is one that I really want to try out myself …

They drove south one winter until they could stand outside with no coats on & we never saw them again.

Holiday Story of the Day

We stood out on the porch before we went inside & she told me her secret. Pretend you’re just visiting, she said. That way you’ll forget that they’re family.

Story of the Day

If you are not signed up to receive these I highly suggest it. For me they are like Hallmark … they say what I’m thinking with words I’d never put together.

Here’s today’s …

I have too much to lose, she said, if I cross that line. Like what? I said. She could not think of anything that day so she said she’d get back to me. Since then I’ve been thinking what I would lose if I cross my line & I haven’t come up with anything either. There’s always another line somewhere.

I believe Proverbs addresses friends like this …

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