she is a gatherer

there are days, in the silence of early morning, as my shoes crunch the gravel near the playground, that i realize this is what i'm meant to do. there are days, in the quiet of dawn, as the sun rises over the top of our school building and my arms ache from carrying supplies and snacks into my classroom, that i realize these kids are worth every ounce of exhaustion i sometimes experience. there are days, when my already crazy hair sticks to the back of my neck, as i sit in my classroom writing quotes on the walls and math problems on the board, that i wonder if time will ever slow down.

i wonder a lot of things these days. am i doing this right? i wonder as a i teach or lecture or praise or reprimand my students. even outside of the classroom, i wonder, am i doing this right? this whole life thing. am i ever going to stop and be still? is life forever one giant balancing act between sanity and losing it?

the world, i think, is full of hope and sorrow and shame and beauty and grace. we are surrounded by people who have lost faith in just about everything, and then some who cling to faith as if it is their last hope, their last chance to be saved from the chaos that is this life. i guess we must trek through, and press onward. we shuffle our boots through the muddy swamps, looking for a path,

a way to know this is the right direction, as we gasp for air, air so thick with humidity that you can almost see it... we trek through, looking for God on every corner, sometimes forgetting that if you look hard enough, and you look long enough, even when it may seem like a wrong place... our sovereign God is there. for that, and everything else, i am so thankful.

"she is a gatherer... of good friends, of moonbeams, of gratitude..."