Last week, I had a very unique experience with my girls. We were walking to the Family Center to check out new toys, and the girls were on their scooters. It was time to cross one of the busier roads (busy meaning cars actually use it, not meaning LOTS of cars use it...), so I had Katie get off her scooter so she could walk across the road. She got so excited that she darted across the road without waiting for Mommy or Anna.
There was a truck coming. It was far enough away that I knew it was safe to cross- even though normally I don't let my kids cross with cars in view. As we went across to catch up to Katie, Anna tripped and fell.
As she hit the ground, she began screaming. She knew that truck was coming and thought sure it was going to hit her. By the time Anna hit the ground, Katie had already made it to the sidewalk on the other side. The truck that was coming- still far enough away that even with no action on the driver's part we would be safe- slowed down and then stopped. I picked Anna and her scooter up and got her to the other side of the road.
I comforted her as much as possible, but she was really shaken. She had a cut on her knee, too. We got to the Family Center, got her a bandaid, and let her calm down. She seemed fine for the most part the rest of the day, but as she was heading to bed that night, she told me how scared she'd been when she fell. She told me she thought the car was going to hit her. I assured her that I had been making sure she was safe, but that it was good that she had known the car was there.
This really hit me. Originally it hit me because of the trauma it caused Anna. She was never in any real danger, but she THOUGHT she was. I babied her all day, trying to help her feel better. As I thought about this experience, it made me wonder how often we are like Anna falling in the road. How often do we think we are in the middle of an unsolvable situation when we aren't? I remember times when I have hit times that were hard. I didn't see an end, didn't know how I would get by. I would pray with all my heart, begging for help. In time, things would get better on their own. I wonder how often the Lord smiles, picks us up, carries us to the other side of the road, and then just lets time fix things?
When Anna fell in the road, I could clearly see she was going to be fine. If she had been in danger, I'd have acted much faster and much differently. But from her perspective, she was in serious danger and didn't see a way she wouldn't get hurt. In life, we often think we are in bad situations and see no way out of them. But the Lord can see farther than we can. Sometimes when we pray, He lets us wait it out. He never ignores our prayers- He simply sees more than we do and knows that we are going to be fine if we will just let time pass.
Just a thought.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Monday, January 6, 2014
Student or Teacher?
As many people already know, I work for K12 as a teacher. What many people do NOT know is that I also work on the TAMS team. The TAMS team is the support line. We do chat support and a little phone support. Students can come onto Live Chat and get help with schoolwork or technical issues. (Phone support is more for technical issues only...)
Anyway, a few months ago, I had a student come on needing some help getting past some writer's block on a story she was writing for a class. I helped her past the block by brainstorming with her. A few days later, she came back for help again. Her story was amazing, and as we worked on brainstorming for it, she decided to go beyond the assignment and turn it into a novel.
I've worked with this student a lot over the past months, as she comes on to brainstorm or work through problems she is having with the story. She finished the first one (a full-blown novel) and started a sequel to it. The story is amazing, and it won't surprise me if she really does get it published when she's a little older.
But what I really learned from this student was not academic. I started out as the teacher, but as I got to know her and understand her personal life, I began to learn a lot of amazing lessons from her. Specific lessons are hard to pin point because it's been so prolonged. But the biggest lesson was that I went into it assuming I'd help her and it would be all one way.
Instead, I have learned more from her than she ever did from me. My point? We need to go into every situation hoping to learn and improve ourselves- not just hoping to teach and improve someone else. After I learned so much from this amazing student, it made me wonder how many other people I could have learned from if I had let myself.
Just a thought.
Anyway, a few months ago, I had a student come on needing some help getting past some writer's block on a story she was writing for a class. I helped her past the block by brainstorming with her. A few days later, she came back for help again. Her story was amazing, and as we worked on brainstorming for it, she decided to go beyond the assignment and turn it into a novel.
I've worked with this student a lot over the past months, as she comes on to brainstorm or work through problems she is having with the story. She finished the first one (a full-blown novel) and started a sequel to it. The story is amazing, and it won't surprise me if she really does get it published when she's a little older.
But what I really learned from this student was not academic. I started out as the teacher, but as I got to know her and understand her personal life, I began to learn a lot of amazing lessons from her. Specific lessons are hard to pin point because it's been so prolonged. But the biggest lesson was that I went into it assuming I'd help her and it would be all one way.
Instead, I have learned more from her than she ever did from me. My point? We need to go into every situation hoping to learn and improve ourselves- not just hoping to teach and improve someone else. After I learned so much from this amazing student, it made me wonder how many other people I could have learned from if I had let myself.
Just a thought.
Alma and Amulek
So the other night I had an amazing experience with Anna. She's five years old, and has out-grown nightmares as a general rule. However, when she has them, they are extremely terrifying.
She woke up really scared a couple nights ago, and told me about a terrifying dream she'd had. We said a prayer together, and that helped her a lot as we were really able to feel the spirit. But she was still scared.
So I decided to tell her my favorite story from the scriptures. It's in the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. Alma and Amulek were missionaries who went to a land full of extremely mean and wicked people. The people didn't react well to being told they were doing wrong and needed to repent. Instead of trying to change, they threw Alma and Amulek in prison. They beat them, starved them, etc. After a time, they were in the prison mocking them. They were saying that if Alma and Amulek had been giving a true message about Jesus Christ, God would have saved them already.
They prayed to God, who gave them the power to break out of their bands. Then God shook the earth and the prison crumbled to the ground. Alma and Amulek were unharmed and walked out of the prison. They were able to leave that land and go to a land where people were more righteous and listened to the message.
This is my favorite story because of its application. I had a great experience sharing this application with Anna. It doesn't matter what we are going through, Heavenly Father can save us. It doesn't mean He will- Alma and Amulek suffered A LOT before they were delivered. But it means He can. If we are scared, we can pray to Him and He can help us. He can send us peace.
I've learned many times in my life that the difference between pure terror and pure peace is a prayer asking for the spirit. Let's all try to remember that as we go through difficult, painful, or scary things in life. Praying for help may not alter the trials, but it will alter how we feel about them and give us the peace we need to endure.
Just a thought.
She woke up really scared a couple nights ago, and told me about a terrifying dream she'd had. We said a prayer together, and that helped her a lot as we were really able to feel the spirit. But she was still scared.
So I decided to tell her my favorite story from the scriptures. It's in the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. Alma and Amulek were missionaries who went to a land full of extremely mean and wicked people. The people didn't react well to being told they were doing wrong and needed to repent. Instead of trying to change, they threw Alma and Amulek in prison. They beat them, starved them, etc. After a time, they were in the prison mocking them. They were saying that if Alma and Amulek had been giving a true message about Jesus Christ, God would have saved them already.
They prayed to God, who gave them the power to break out of their bands. Then God shook the earth and the prison crumbled to the ground. Alma and Amulek were unharmed and walked out of the prison. They were able to leave that land and go to a land where people were more righteous and listened to the message.
This is my favorite story because of its application. I had a great experience sharing this application with Anna. It doesn't matter what we are going through, Heavenly Father can save us. It doesn't mean He will- Alma and Amulek suffered A LOT before they were delivered. But it means He can. If we are scared, we can pray to Him and He can help us. He can send us peace.
I've learned many times in my life that the difference between pure terror and pure peace is a prayer asking for the spirit. Let's all try to remember that as we go through difficult, painful, or scary things in life. Praying for help may not alter the trials, but it will alter how we feel about them and give us the peace we need to endure.
Just a thought.
Can You Say the Word?
Yesterday I had a fun experience with my girls. I was on the phone, and Katie decided she was going to starve to death if she didn't get a snack. She and Anna had been playing in the other room, which was where she started whimpering. She came into the kitchen and started trying to tell me what she wanted. I couldn't understand the gibberish, so I took her to the pantry and asked her to show me.
She pointed up and said she wanted, "THAT!" Well, there were about 500 things in that general direction, so I still didn't know what she wanted. I lifted her up, hoping that I could get a better answer if she was closer to the food. Didn't help.
I called Anna in and asked if Anna knew what she wanted. I was hoping that she'd said it clearly before coming in- since it was the whimpering that was making it unintelligible. Well, Anna didn't know either, but decided to find out what her sister wanted.
She asked Katie what she wanted, got the same unintelligible response I had gotten, and realized a new approach was needed. She said, "Katie, can you say the word?"
Katie was quick to respond with, "Word." We all laughed, and Anna tried again.
"Katie, can you say the name?"
Katie's response? "Name."
We finally got it figured out what she wanted and got it to her, but it made us all laugh really hard.
She answered the questions, but did NOT answer the questions. :) Yes, she responded appropriately. Anna told her to say the word, so she said, "Word." Appropriate response. Didn't get us the information we were asking for....
It made me wonder how often we do that to our Heavenly Father. Yes, we follow most of His rules. But how often do we follow his rule by using this logic? He said don't lie. So how often do we answer a question with a technical truth, but still with the intent to deceive? He said to clothe the naked, so how often do we donate an item of clothing so used it almost isn't wearable anymore- or ONLY the things we know we hate? Yes, we followed what He said- but are we doing what He wanted us to do? Are we doing what He did?
Just a thought.
She pointed up and said she wanted, "THAT!" Well, there were about 500 things in that general direction, so I still didn't know what she wanted. I lifted her up, hoping that I could get a better answer if she was closer to the food. Didn't help.
I called Anna in and asked if Anna knew what she wanted. I was hoping that she'd said it clearly before coming in- since it was the whimpering that was making it unintelligible. Well, Anna didn't know either, but decided to find out what her sister wanted.
She asked Katie what she wanted, got the same unintelligible response I had gotten, and realized a new approach was needed. She said, "Katie, can you say the word?"
Katie was quick to respond with, "Word." We all laughed, and Anna tried again.
"Katie, can you say the name?"
Katie's response? "Name."
We finally got it figured out what she wanted and got it to her, but it made us all laugh really hard.
She answered the questions, but did NOT answer the questions. :) Yes, she responded appropriately. Anna told her to say the word, so she said, "Word." Appropriate response. Didn't get us the information we were asking for....
It made me wonder how often we do that to our Heavenly Father. Yes, we follow most of His rules. But how often do we follow his rule by using this logic? He said don't lie. So how often do we answer a question with a technical truth, but still with the intent to deceive? He said to clothe the naked, so how often do we donate an item of clothing so used it almost isn't wearable anymore- or ONLY the things we know we hate? Yes, we followed what He said- but are we doing what He wanted us to do? Are we doing what He did?
Just a thought.
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