Perspective
It's amazing how grateful you can become by simply being exposed to the pain of others.
I taught at the high school today. The first two periods went very well. I felt like I connected with several students and worked hard to motivate a couple students in particular. One responded with good effort; the other didn't.
At the start of third period I received a call from the BGPD dispatcher informing me that a 16 year old boy in our community had died and they needed my assistance for a death notification. He wasn't feeling well yesterday, skipped dinner and went to bed. He never got up.
The office staff was great in finding a sub for the sub and in a few minutes I was on my way.
The good news is that there was nothing about his death that would suggest that it was suicide. Of course, we will know more after the autopsy.
As if that weren't tragic enough, I traveled to a local hospital to help notify his mother, who has terminal cancer. She has already outlived predictions and is declining. Please pray for her.
From there I went back to the HS, talked with the principal and then went to work at my office. It was good to get some things done that I'd been putting off. Instead of working alone at my cubicle in the back of the building, I worked up front where it was comforting to be around people.
I had already scheduled to meet with another family this afternoon whose mother died yesterday. We had a good visit and I received the necessary information to prepare for the funeral on Saturday.
Tonight we had our third Bible study with a new group and we shared life at a very deep level. One guy was especially open and vulnerable, and our reading of Philippians provided exactly the guidance we all needed. His honesty drew all of us together and now his burdens are ours too.
Seeing the pain of others has given me some fresh perspective, a deeper sense of gratitude for the smallness of any of my challenges, and a greater awareness of the heart of God for those who are broken and know it.
posted by Scott @ 9:46 PM
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