What's Your Legacy?

 Our sermon today was on Legacy. What will be people say about you when you leave? What is your legacy? 

My brother-in-law is laying in the Neuro ICU at a local hospital after an accident yesterday, so of course that is where my mind went first. He is a fighter and I do not believe it is his time to leave yet but I know exactly what his legacy is - his family. Every grandchild wants him over everyone else. He is the baby whisperer. His granddaughter adores him. That is not too strong of a word - they adore each other. He is this big tough guy but he would play Disney princess stories with her when she was little. The image of him carrying her in as part of Rapunzel is one of my all time favorite things. However, he also once told her that he could not be her friend any longer if she didn't do her homework. She is an honor student so they are still the best of friends. He coached his daughter and son's respective sports teams. Yelling at them to do better and shake it off when my sister and I wanted to baby them. He stood in the gap for my own son as well. He filled the role as the strong dad voice because I was always cautious and didn't want Taylor to get hurt. He threw into the water, let him flip across the water coming off a wake board, pulled him to safety off a dirt bike and then, put him right back on it. He shows up for anything my mom needs. So, while it is not his time to leave, his legacy is clear. He is all about family.

When I came home from church, I walked past a stone in my garden with a green E painted on it. I look at it every day as I come into the house. The E was gifted to me years ago by two of my favorite students. It was originally part of a Homecoming display. I asked if I could have it when the display was over and was told yes but it disappeared. These two students saw it at another person's house later, realized that it had been taken without permission, and returned it to me. It is part of my legacy. In the mud room, I have painted letters EHS sitting in my window. These were decorated by students for use in photographs at different events. Each one is unique and over-the-top creative. I wanted them to look great in photographs so I set the bar high. They reached that goal without a problem. Those letters are part of my legacy. As I sit at my desk typing this, there are 3 notes pinned to the board above my laptop. One is a note is from my principal telling me "my dedication to my students is obvious and appreciated" (Legacy). Another is the Robing Ceremony card from one of my favorite students saying "knowing you has changed my life" (Legacy).The final is a thank you note from a student telling me I "saved her" by coming to her a freshman and asking her to serve on Student Council. She told me she was heading in the wrong direction and I turned her around. I never knew that but that counts as Legacy too. I have awards hanging on the office wall but they don't reflect my legacy s much as these 3 cards do. 

I love my school. I am Ms. EHS or Ms. Easley. A student gave me that name and I fully embrace it. I can tell you the traditions of the school and why we do them. Just yesterday, I was telling a class how Easley broke their 30+ game losing streak with a flea flicker play against Pickens and how the entire town celebrated with a party in the stadium after driving back from Pickens. How Mrs. Garrison honored the promise of letting the students take down the goal posts. I told another social studies teacher that the portrait of George Washington hanging in my room had hung in a social studies classroom since 1939 and is passed down from teacher to teacher when they retire. Traditions matter. I can quote the Alma Mater but I also mean the Alma Mater when I say My Love will ever be, Easley for Thee. I know how we did things back in the day, why we changed certain things and why we keep certain things too. I house a lot of the institutional memory. I know who Barney is and why we love him. I know exactly why Mrs. Garrison is so special to so many. I once saw her quiet a parent who was ranting about a punishment given to a child by saying "I'm so sorry your child chose to disrespect you by breaking the rules". In that moment, I wanted to be just like her. Every time I write a student a personal note, I think of how Dr. Carmichael wrote one to every single student he had every single year. I will never forget how students wore their IDs to the funeral honoring O. The church was packed and all these kids who loathed their ID tags wore them for him. LEGACY.  Chair races, Friday breakfasts, and practical jokes with Dr. Mullis. Legacy. When the band won State a couple of years ago, Mr. Culler cried openly. Every single member of that band, their parents, their friends, and the faculty that were present knew they had his full support. Legacy. 

When Mr. Culler was named principal, he said it was the best day of his life. His wife was there and I am sure he wishes he had qualified the statement by saying outside of the day I married Melissa or the birth of my boys. However, I understand the sentiment. When Mrs. Garrison asked if I was ready to come home to teach, it was the best day. Sometimes, I get overwhelmed. People who do not know the history of our amazing school come in and want to change everything and I go into defense mode. I push back. When I am told that someone new to EHS wants to "fix our culture", I get protective. I even go as far as applying at another school... Am I ready to leave EHS? NO! It's my school. IT. IS. MY. SCHOOL. My blood is Kelly Green. I can tell you all the stories from the last few decades. I can celebrate all the victories. I mourn all the losses. Do some things need to change? Yeah. But as a good friend told me, lets don't make major changes in the middle of a pandemic because it looks worse than it is.... because we are after all in a pandemic. Don't let other people make you lose sight of your Legacy. My legacy is empowering the next generation. What's yours?

God Still Holds Back the Water

      In the movie Prince of Egypt, there is an awesome scene where the Red Sea parts for the Israelites to cross safely as they fled from Egypt. The massive walls of water are clearly depicted with sharks and fish swimming high above the people as they walk quickly to safely. I love that image because it shows exactly how powerful and amazing our God is. He can hold back the Sea so His people can cross over on dry land. He didn't let them suddenly discover boats. He didn't throw up a barrier to stop their pursuers. He didn't allow them to swim across. God parted the waters and they crossed on dry land.  What's my point? Simple. God is Powerful Enough. Whatever it is that you are struggling with, God is powerful enough to handle it.


     About a dozen years ago, I worked in Human Resources. I liked my job. I worked hard. There was a variety in what I did. I travelled for work. I earned a nice salary. Nothing I did was dishonorable to God; nothing I did showed His awesomeness either though. My job went to the West Coast. I stayed here. I really prayed about what I was supposed to do next. God called me to teach and so I became a teacher. I tell this story a lot. It's all true. However, it leaves out the part where God held back the water for me to cross on dry land.


     In a Hallmark movie, I would have received a full scholarship or won the lottery or met a wonderful benefactor that paid for me to go to school to become certified. Nope. In real life, I lost my house, moved in with my grandmother, and slept on the floor of her small home for the first six months of my teaching career. When I was finally able to pay for Taylor and I a home of our own, we went without cable television, internet, and even heat for one winter. Life was hard. I never once doubted that teaching is what I was supposed to do though and we survived. How is this God holding back the water? I went to school for 15 months with absolutely no income. I did not have a penny at times. Church members would hand me gas money as we were leaving church. My grandmother housed us and fed us. I had a jug of loose change that I carried around in the car to pay for gas and it never ran out of money. God didn't give me an easy route, but He did allow me to cross over. Taylor and my grandmother became extremely close. He wouldn't have had that relationship otherwise. I devoted myself fully to my career because I knew this was my calling from God.  I love teaching because I am called to teach. God held back the water so I could do it.

     Today, the sermon centered on Joshua 3:1-5. Joshua says three things that I think we need to remember. First, Joshua tells the people to wait until they see the ark of the covenant to leave their homes and follow it. He said to WAIT. I have student loan debt from my Masters and my Doctorate. It worries me because it is a second mortgage every month. I wanted to be a better teacher, but I also wanted to be a better paid teacher. That's hard to say. It's true though. God has not miraculously erased my debt. Today, sitting in the pew, I realized that I had not waited until I saw God's plan. I made my own plan. I am bobbing in the sea of debt because I did not WAIT. The second thing, Joshua says is to put some distance between yourself and the ark so you can see which way to go. The ark is Holy. If I am so close that I cannot see the signs of which way I am to go, I will miss the direction I am supposed to travel. I like to think I know what is best.  I sit on this board and that committee. I apply for this class and that class. God didn't call me to be all those things. He called me to teach. God knows what His plan for my life is. I need to trust Him. I need to stop trying to catch up with the ark and show it where to go. God needs to lead me. Otherwise, I am looking for the life raft when God's plan is to part the water. I need to hand it all over to Him.


     Finally, (and I LOVE this), verse 5 says "And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." Sanctify yourself. We all want the waters to part. We all want to be part of something amazing. Joshua clearly states that we have to do our part first. We need to spend time in prayer, in reflection, in God's Holy Word. We need to take ourselves out of the picture and put the focus firmly on God. I am called to teach. My classroom is my mission field. I need to stop worrying about what my test scores are going to be. I need to stop worrying about accolades that never come my way. I need to stop seeking the approval of others. I need to sanctify myself so that God can be seen in me. God didn't call me to teach to raise standardized test scores. I am to do so much more. I need to sanctify myself and watch God do wonders among me. He will part the waters if I do my part. I cannot wait.
    

What Are They Measuring?

Tonight on Top Chef Masters, the chefs had to compete using bugs for ingredients and then, later they were required to cook without water, space, or fresh ingredients.  After the chefs had still managed to serve a delicious meal to their diners, one chef was sent home for not measuring up to the standards set by the judges. The point of the television show is to determine who is the best master chef.  Somewhere along the way though, the show lost this focus and decided to see how many hoops the chefs could jump through.  Are they measuring the quality of the food or the chef's jumping ability?  What are they measuring?

This strikes a cord with me. I am not a chef.  However, as a teacher, we are measured on so many things that have little to do with our ability to educate. South Carolina currently requires every student enrolled in US History to take an end-of-course exam that counts as 20% of their yearly grade.  The test consists of 55 questions and these magical questions count as much as an entire quarter's worth of material. The passage rate for this test statewide is approximately 50%.  Yes, we are giving students a test that we know half of them will not pass.  Every meeting I have attended regarding it has centered on what the teachers are not doing right to prepare our students for this test. Teachers have explained the vocabulary is too high.  The questions are confusing.  There are issues with the actual test.  We are required to keep giving it, and then, the scores go on our school report card.  We are judged using an unfair measure. The Superintendent of Education wants to cut teacher pay and base it on performance. I am not afraid of being judged based on my teaching ability; I am afraid of being judged using this test.  Measure me on the right things.

The master chefs competing tonight can cook amazing meals.  Diners call and request reservations at their restaraunts weeks in advance.  They are talented and at the top of their games; yet they get sent home because they cannot cook with bugs or without water. Teachers every day are staying up late to make creative lesson plans or grade papers.  They worry about their students who are not on target.  They tutor afterschool and come early to provide extra help.  They spend their own money to buy the materials that they think will get through to that one student.  Then, we are judged using unrealistic measures.... Measure us on the things that matter most, not one test....

We All Get Where We Are Headed Eventually...

Twice today I had wise wonderful women offer their sympathies over the fact that Taylor is enlisting in the military.  They have both worked with me and know beyond a shadow of doubt how precious my only child is to me. Anyone who has ever spent more than five minutes with me knows that Taylor is my everything. When I became a teacher, my students upon meeting Taylor would simply tell him that I talked about him all the time; he simply nodded in response.  I have always talked about him.... to everyone.. to anyone. How will I ever survive his leaving? I will because it is what Taylor is supposed to do.

I support Taylor's decision to enlist even if it is not the decision I would have made for my bright, talented young man. Why? He needs to follow his own path to go where God wants him to serve.  I truly believe that God plans for us all to fulfill a specific role.  He has equipped it for the work we are to do, but sometimes, we wander off the path. We want to make more money or the path is a hard climb or we want to have the fairy tale right at that moment rather than doing what we know we should do. 

I am called to teach.  I was called to teach a long time ago, but the corporate world paid more, offered more adventure, and was where I wanted to be. I ran from teaching. Then, eight years ago, my big corporate dream went away.  I sent resumes. I interviewed for jobs. I was offered jobs.  I could not accept a single one without crying. I knew I was supposed to teach. Stepping back onto the path that I had so willingly hopped off of was rough to say the least.  I had no money. I had a child to support.  We did without. The year and a half that I was back in college and the first six months of my teaching career are not times I want to recall. If it had not been for my grandmother's love and biscuits, well... it would have been a lot rougher.  I made it through to teach. Taylor and I survived. My life would have been so much easier if I had simply listened to God and stayed on the path I was supposed to be on to begin with.

Taylor is called to be a Marine.  No one doubts this. Strangers upon meeting him ask what branch of the military he is in.  His favorite toys growing up were GI Joes and army men.  His favorite game was war.  I do not want him to leave.  I would die myself before ever seeing my child in harm's way if I could.  God has called Taylor to serve though. I remember how hard it was to climb back on my path, to get to exactly the place I was supposed to be all along....  Taylor is not running from his path.  He is going to do amazing things.