MUD.
Sticky, wet, messy.

It is easy to get stuck in the mud. As soon as you get a little stuck on your shoes, then more sticks to it and your shoes get heavier and heavier. Still easier is to slip on it. The other day while I was walking, I entertained the idea of surfing down a hill on my mud-covered shoes. I decided it would cause too much erosion and possibly be dangerous to my health. :-)

Sometimes life is like walking in mud. Last week I had a lot of troubles with my students. They were testing to see how much disrespect and distraction they could get away with. One of my students outright refused to do what I told him to do. We ended up having to go to the principal - it was a bad situation and a little of the mud of the world stuck to my feet. That made it much easier for me to pick up a little self-pity and self-condemnation. "You are a bad teacher," I told myself. "You can't even control your own students, let alone teach them anything. Are you serving at all at this school, or just getting in the way?" My feet got heavier and heavier.

But God has the best mud-scrapers in the world. The Bible is not called the Sword of the Spirit for nothing. Our class devotions for one morning were "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say" (Luke 12:11,12). This may be a somewhat hard concept for 3rd and 4th graders, but it was just what I needed to hear. I realized that I don't have to be smart enough to guide my students in God's way. I just have to be available, to let Him speak through me, to go to Him in times when I'm confused or concerned and let Him take over. What a relief!

So a tough week became one of the best in my teaching career because everything is better when you don't have to face it alone. Walking close beside my Daddy in heaven, I can face anything with humor and humility. :-) Don't pick up mud - let God scrape it off for you.