As teachers, what motivates us when we feel we have nothing to give? What do we do when our own personal troubles challenge the face we put on at work as instructor, counselor, colleague? As Christian teachers, we gain motivation from a different source, from a renewing source, from a holy source. Still, when encountering crucibles our faith can be tried.
Joyce Meyer proposes the bucket analogy: some days your buckets are empty and you will find it a struggle to get through the day, let alone be a resource of strength to others. Last year I followed a demanding routine: I woke two hours early at 4 am to prep and grade, stayed at work an extra hour, and then continued to prep until 7 pm before I went to bed. What motivated me to do this? A third-year teacher, I was still a go-getter. I wanted to reach every student, to create impressive lessons, and to organize my department. Then, pain wasn’t a constant companion but it was a familiar friend. Yet, I ignored my discomfort, pushed aside any pain, and pressed forward. I felt that my success and my students’ success were more important. My buckets were empty then, but I continued to carry them and make it by step-by-step.
Some days, however, the empty buckets themselves become a burden and weigh you to the ground. This year the pain is constant, it is disorienting, it is faith-shattering. I keep going. Minute-to-minute or class-to-class, I just keep going. Why? The alternative is to accept that my life, my current state, is valueless. This is not true. Even in pain, even in crisis, I still have value: I can still teach, I can still comfort, I can still pray. Though my faith has been tested this year—these past five years—it still motivates me.
There is a stretch of road at the bottom of my hill where the sun shines so brightly in the morning that I can not see. Whether I put the visor down or put my sunglasses on, it makes no difference: I am blind. I know the road is there and I trust I will see the pavement again, but within those seconds I exist completely in faith: faith that I am in the right place, faith that no one will strike me, and faith that I will see the way again. I live every day in the same “blind” faith. I trust that suffering will end. I trust I will see the purpose of my pain. I trust Him. And I’ll follow the warmth of the sun.
This sounds like a variant on the famous "Spoons" analogy (https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/). It is true however you put it.
ReplyDeleteI see a couple of immediate take-aways from the Buckets/Spoons theory:
First, if we want to be able to do our best for our students, we need to take care of ourselves. If I am falling over from illness, pain, and/or exhaustion, I am unlikely to have a good temper or be able to pay proper attention.
Second, remembering that our students may have their own bucket issues. Not all students are healthy. Not all students get enough sleep, either because of poor habits or due to after-school work and activities crowding their time. Not all students get a good breakfast. Etc.