LSEM > Devotions > The Last Day of School

The Last Day of School

  • June 2, 2024
  • Posted by: Carolyn Mahal
  • Category: Devotions
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Most of the staff and most of the students are shouts of joy and loud yahoos!  No more teachers no more books . . . hopefully there were never any dirty looks from teachers – as the saying used to go.   Sometimes there are papers intentionally scattered in the hallway as make-shift giant celebratory confetti!  Cheers of happiness ring out for the summer fun to begin.  Cheers of celebration resound for passing to the next grade. Cheers rise up about the successes and growth.  But there are those of us who silently wipe away our tears in the shadows of the hall by the water fountain.  Those of us who leave at 5 pm on the last day of school even though it was a half day.  Those of us who mourn the closing of an important and meaningful chapter of our book as if one of the main characters whom we loved has died.

I often ponder why I feel melancholy at the close of each school year.  Perhaps it’s similar to Post Olympic Blues also known as Gold Medal Syndrome.  I’ve spent the last several months of my life investing in this set of students.  I’ve stayed awake at night thinking of how to better engage them, thinking about how to break through and help them truly understand a concept.  I’ve invested myself emotionally.  I worry about Johnny who doesn’t have a mom, and about Aley’s whose parents are divorced.  I listened to my students’ woes, prayed for them and with them, and loved them unconditionally.  To me the end of the year symbolizes a change in the relationship I’ve had with this group of students to whom I’ve given my all.  I will still see them, but not in the same context.  I will have new students who will need me, but not in the same exact way as this group.

As I transition into my summer months, I need to remember that although God has chosen to use me to love on, teach, and support these students, that I am more than the sum of my actions.  I’ve unwittingly bought into the American Dream which is sometimes the American lie.  I identify myself as my job.  I’ve bought into the idea that my identity is defined by what I do not who I am. I am more than my job and my successes.  I am more than my failures.  I am a child of God.  God sees my worth not in what I do, but on who I am through Christ Jesus.  I need to remember that summer is set aside to recharge and refresh our teacher-batteries.  Even Jesus withdrew from the crowds and went up to the mountain to pray – Mark 6:46.  Only through pray and reframing my purpose and worth as God’s will  and as God’s child (respectively) rather than focusing on my own works, can I find peace.  It is Ok to relax.  It is ok to be happy; it’s not selfish.  It’s ok to enjoy summer.  God wants us to experience joy and be joyful in his creation!

And we pray:

Dear Lord, I humbly thank you for all that you have given me.  My life, my breath, my skills, strengths, and gifts all come from you.  Thank you for allowing me to faithfully use these towards your goals and purpose.  Thank you for the students and staff that you have placed in my path and in my care that have become treasured family and friends. We especially pray for . . . . . May you bless all of our summer endeavors and guide our paths.  Keep our students safe, and healthy this summer.  In your son’s holy name we pray, Amen.

 

Devotion by Becky Warnasch,

LSEM Teacher & Director of Academic Success

Zion Lutheran School, Walburg, TX