It Matters
I taught her four years ago in 8th grade. She was new to our school that year. I’ll call her Sally. She was quiet and a bit slow to smile, but kind. She wasn’t particularly motivated in class that year, but her writing abilities blew my mind. I remember calling her by name that year as often as I could, and smiling and looking her in the eyes intentionally, to let her know she was seen and loved. She finished 8th grade and moved on to high school. I’ve seen her in the halls a few times over the last four years, and I still smile, say her name, and look her in the eyes every time I see her.
And it’s not just her. One of the great things about teaching in a building with 6th through 12th grade students is being able to see and stay in touch with students I’ve taught in the past. I get to watch them grow up, and I love it. Every day as I walk the halls, I try my best to smile and use names as I pass students. It’s just become a habit. In this fast-moving world where students constantly compare themselves to the filtered faces and lavish lives of social media influencers, I’m convinced it’s more important than ever for adults, especially Jesus-following adults, to affirm kids just as they are, every single chance we get. The value of face-to-face contact isn’t any less important now; in fact, it may be even more significant than ever! And making kids feel valued happens in the little moments when we slow down and consider them more important than ourselves.
(My principal reminds us of this every day over the intercom when he quotes Scripture to us: “We are here to love, teach, and learn, and that happens when we consider others more important than ourselves. We believe that we is greater than me.”
SIDENOTE: Yes, I teach in a public high school. No, no one has taken God out of schools. Don’t fall for that rhetoric. As long as Jesus-followers are in public schools, God will always be there.)
Back to Sally.
Yesterday Sally walked in and gave me a ceramic ornament she had made. I smiled and tried to hide my surprise.
“Wow! Thank you so much! I love this! What made you think of me?”
She smiled, shrugged, and said, “I just really love you, Mrs. Burns,” and walked out.
I sat stunned and then flashed back to a moment three months ago. It was an evening I had stayed after school to chaperone a middle school dance. (This may sound like the third circle of Hell to some, but I find it to be extremely entertaining and fun! Call me crazy.) I broke away from the blaring music and shouting students to run to the front office to grab more cash for the concession stand. In the hallway I ran into Sally. She was cradling a camera and crying. I stopped to talk to her. She’s a yearbook staffer and was assigned to photograph the drama club after school. In the process of tripping around in a dark theater and trying to take pictures of moving actors on stage, she had lost her phone. She was frustrated and overwhelmed. I was needed back at the dance, but I unlocked my classroom for her, got out a snack and bottled water from my cabinet, and told her to take as long as she needed to chill out and collect herself. She nodded and wiped her tears as I waved and ran out to resume my duties.
The next morning, I found a note on my desk from Sally:
Mrs. Burns - thanks for letting me sit in your room. It meant a lot. - Sally
I smiled and thanked God for the small opportunity to serve a student. Then I went on with my day. Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it again until yesterday when Sally gave me the snowman ornament.
Right then and there, sitting at my desk with a classroom full of students, the Holy Spirit whispered to me: Little things matter, Hailey. What you’re doing matters. And that was exactly what I needed to hear, because sometimes I feel like I’m wasting my time. Sometimes I feel like teaching 100 middle schoolers each day doesn’t make an eternal impact. It sometimes seems like being a wife and mom - washing dishes, folding laundry, and chauffeuring kids - doesn’t matter. And I’m guessing you’ve felt the same way at times. It’s easy to think that the little things we do day in and day out all add up to a lot of nothing, and we’re just spinning our wheels, running around aimlessly like a hamster in a ball. But yesterday, Sally reminded me otherwise.
What we do matters. Whether we’re typing at a computer, stocking shelves, welding pipes, prescribing medicine, or changing diapers, what we do matters if we do it for Jesus… if we do it with the love of Jesus.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Gal 6:9
