Lesson 1:
I began Lent with what I thought was a good plan to give up
unnecessary criticism of people. It sounds proper and better than giving up
some type of food or beverage item. What I didn’t realize at the time was how
ingrained I was to put down people for fun. It’s a terrible revelation to
admit, but it’s true.
Now as a teacher, I have to give feedback and prevent
misbehavior, but there’s a productive way to do that and a destructive way to
go about that. It’s so easy to be mean,
but hard to be thoughtful. What has happened? How did I let myself get pulled
into hateful comments just so I could get laughs? I’m not a comedian. And it’s
not the best way to joke.
As I take this journey, I want to share some of my insights
and probably shortcomings in the hopes of being a kinder, gentler person. My
first problem came when I was discussing a former coworker. And I can be
vicious about other teachers. And before I knew it, a mean comment came right
out of my mouth. How does that happen? I think through practice. As a teacher,
I know my students have to practice problems over and over to get it right. And
I’ve been practicing bad behaviors and boy, do I know how to get them right.
And I’m fast, too. It came out of my mouth before I even had time to think.
I left the situation and went out and prayed. And yes, God
spoke to me. “Go and sin no more.” I came back and said something nice about
that person. Actually, I just changed the way I said my previous statement.
That’s all it took; an attitude adjustment. It was how I said my statement as
much as the statement itself.
Check back for more insights as I work through Lent 2013.
And thanks for checking me out!
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