reminders

This has been a tough school year.  Definitely a lonely, thankless one without many of those sweet, cute moments that keep you going.  But God knows me and knows I need my reminders of why I'm doing this.  One of my students from last year brought me a copy of a story she had written in class to get ready for the big state writing test.  I thanked her and at that moment didn't have time to read it.  But when I did...

 

Here is what she wrote:  

Presents from different people all make me happy. No matter what they give me, I'm thankful for getting it, but there's one present that's really special to me.  Do you have one very special present that made you really, really happy?  Well, I had one.  It was the greatest joy of my life.
 

It all started on the week before Christmas break.  Everybody was really excited for Christmas day to come so they can receive presents.  I was different.  I never felt what it was like to get a present since I didn't celebrate Christmas, until that week.  I was really close to my teacher, she was my favorite teacher of all times, and she made a great difference in my life.  At the end of school that day, she handed me a colorful, wrapped up box.  I asked her what it was and she told me that I would know when I opened it.  I felt an urge to open it,  I was really eager to open it , to see what was inside but I knew I had to wait.  I was going to my friend's house that day, so when I finally arrived to her house, I grabbed the box and opened it.

When I opened it, I gasped.  Inside the colorful wrapping was a purple color cover, and flowers on a thick book.  One the cover, it had the word Bible on it.  I never felt so happy before.  I felt tears that were about to spill out.  It was the first Christmas present and the best present in my whole life.  I held The Bible close to my heart and thought about all the good things my teacher had done for me.  I knew that it was going to be the best present. Even in the future.  I still remember it like yesterday.  I the feelings I had felt and how I had felt so thankful for the best present ever.

Can you really ask for a better reminder?  I mean, I had already forgotten about getting her a Bible.  It didn't mean that much to me, it wasn't a huge sacrifice or something I spent a lot of time or money on.  But that is the key:  The things I do matter.  They have an effect on my students.  They will remember.