David Lee

Today is the first day this school year I won’t be going into work. My granddaughter has a “Grandparents’ Breakfast” at her preschool this morning and I’m taking off work to attend that event. Work is sixteen miles away from my home and her preschool is about six miles the opposite direction, so it was logistically nearly impossible to do both.

While I’m very much looking forward to attending the grandparents’ function, I do have some amount of worry about the students I leave behind at school. I’m in a mobile classroom (better known as a trailer) and my first class has thirty-one students, so it’s a bit of a stretch for a sub to handle. I did make sure the secretary got a teacher who was familiar with our school and students.

So here it is, five minutes before she’ll have that large class…and yes, I’m already wondering how things will go. Above all else, I know I have absolutely no control over what goes on there this day and that it’s a total waste of time to give it much thought. I think it’s normal for any teacher to have these meanderings on days when they’re not a school It’s not so much that the lesson plans aren’t ones that are easily followed, but more about how the students will choose to behave.

Back in my subbing days, one principal at the end of the day said “As long as the school didn’t burn down, you did your job.” And such will be the case today I’m hoping. May the force be with them all.

David Lee

24 Hours a Day

Meditation for the Day

God’s spirit is all about you all day long. You have no thoughts, no plans, no impulses and no emotions that He does not know about. You can hide nothing from Him. Do not make your conduct conform only to that of the world and do not depend on the approval or disapproval of others. God sees in secret, but He rewards openly. If you are in harmony with the Divine Spirit, doing your best to live the way you believe God wants you to live, you will be at peace.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may always feel God’s presence. I pray that I may realize this Presence constantly all through the day.

 

Language of Letting Go

Staying Out of the Middle

“I don’t want to get in the middle, but . . .” is a sign that we may have just stepped into the middle.

We do not have to get caught in the middle of other people’s issues, problems, or communication. We can let others take responsibility for themselves in their relationships. We can let them work out their issues with each other.

Being a peacemaker does not mean we get in the middle. We are bearers of peace by staying peaceful ourselves and not harboring turmoil. We are peacemakers by not causing the extra chaos created when we get in the middle of other people’s affairs and relationships.

Don’t get in the middle unless you want to be there.

Today, I will refuse to accept any invitations to jump in the middle of others’ affairs, issues, and relationships. I will trust others to work out their own affairs, including the ideas and feelings they want to communicate to each other.

A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.

The topic of control came up with a meeting of friends this evening.  For the most part, we agreed that the feeling of being “in control”, especially of other people, was largely an illusion.  We also recounted the serenity prayer, where we accept the things we cannot change (or in this case, control).  Most also felt it was important to accept responsibility for those parts of our own lives, mainly our own thoughts and actions, that we do have some level of control over.

I know there were periods of time in my own life when I thought if I just worked hard enough and got others to see things my way, I could be in control of not only outcomes, but other people as well.  Sometimes the attempt to control others came through trying to appease them…saying what I thought they wanted to hear, doing what they wanted me to do.  Without giving much thought to whether I was being rigorously honest with my words and actions.

I’m still far from perfect in this respect.  I think a part of it comes from my life-long profession as a classroom teacher.  Thirty-eight years of trying to get your students to behave in particular ways and learn what they’re supposed to learn can make you that way.  But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized people are going to be who they are and do what they’re going to do, with or without my “permission.”

The best thing I can do for myself and for others today is to carefully contemplate my thoughts, words, and deeds, and let others do the same for themselves.  I don’t always know what’s best for myself, so why would I think I know what’s best for anyone else.

 

David Lee

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