Detours and Closed Roads…

It was a little over five years ago, June 14, 2010, that I taught what I thought was my last class in a public school.  I had carefully considered my options and decided that it was time to look at other options, or so at least I thought.

I took off the mandatory six months before even considering substitute teaching.  It wasn’t long after that when I started taking one day sub jobs at several schools.  Although I did enjoy the variety of assignments, it still wasn’t like being in the classroom full time.

One summer day I received a call from an elementary principal wanting to know if I’d be interested in an interim position for a teacher that would be out on maternity leave the following school year.  I decided to take the position and enjoyed the six weeks that I spent with her class. It was a bit more involved that the regular sub jobs I had gotten used to, but then again there was always that light at the end of the tunnel.

That interim for a maternity leave was followed by five other such offerings.  Three of those were for maternity leaves, one for a teacher out for eight weeks at the beginning of the school year due to surgery, and the latest, a teacher that had decided to retire at the end of the third month of school (which, by the way, was supposed to be a nine week interim that became a rest-of-the-school-year, twenty-seven week assignment).

Each of those interim assignments carried with them the responsibility for teaching on a regular basis, the same as I had when I worked full time.  There were papers to be graded, parent conferences to be held, faculty meetings to attend.  I still felt like a substitute teacher in many respects, but considered myself more of an interim teacher than anything else.

I’m currently preparing to complete my seventh and eighth interim assignments…the first is a six day job for a teacher that will be having surgery, the second a maternity leave assignment for the same teacher I did the first one.  I’m looking forward to both assignments, especially given the fact that the first is at the school I retired from and the second at the same elementary school where my daughter teaches.

The bottom line is that although I chose to retire five years ago, I’ve still remained active in the teaching profession. I nearly neglected to mention the interim position I held at the local community college for six weeks one summer. I feel like I’m being led to what I’m destined to do with my life.  This extends far beyond my chosen profession, but it clearly offers the most concrete example.  The same can  be said for personal and familial relationships.

I ask God each day to give me the guidance, wisdom, and strength to do those things He would have me to do.  I have developed a faith to know that if I stay connected to Him, things will be exactly as they are supposed to be. Yes, there are some detours I’ve had to take….some roads that appeared to be on the right track that eventually closed.  But even those are following the words of Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord; ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a future and hope.”