I can promise you that as educators that there are gonna be some days that break your heart. You are going to be left searching for meaning, and grasping for the right words to say. The heaviness of those moments will hang like a thick fog on a September morning, inescapable and encompassing. There are going to be days when what students (and grown-ups) really need to hear is a truth outlawed on public school campuses -> There is a man who rose from the dead, and He can help.
There are gonna be days where kids in your classroom are going through some really bad stuff, things unimaginable to those who grew up in stable homes. Maybe their parents are in jail. Maybe they have been beaten physically. Maybe they are just lonely, and feel like nobody sees them – they are invisible. Maybe their parents are splitting up. Maybe they haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday. Maybe their bedroom is the backseat of a Honda Civic.
And those students are just gonna weep, sometimes outwardly and sometimes silently. They may be angry. They may just tune out. Their souls just ache for what has been lost, or they weep for what has never been. They are searching for their heavenly home, a Kingdom of another world. They need a savior, and that savior isn’t us.
And what they really need to hear we can’t say as educators. We can pray over them. We can live the message of the Gospel as best we can, but we can’t say it. But here is what they really need to hear:
From Jeremiah 29:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord.
And from the 43rd chapter of Isaiah:
But now, this is what the Lord says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush[a] and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
There are just some wounds too deep. And human words won’t fix those injuries. You know, I don’t know how you convey those words to a child without getting fired, but I do know that the Gospel calls us to be bold. The only thing that will heal those wounds are the words of a man whose own hands were pierced by out transgressions…and by his wounds we are healed. And I do know that if we preach God’s truth, that it is going to cost us. And I do know that it is worth it.
We can choose to be outright outlaws and preach the words of that message, or we can boldly live the life of the outlaw we follow, Jesus. But just know this, there are gonna be days when the words of God are the only things that will heal those broken hearts.
“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.” C.S. Lews
