Teach & Serve IV, No. 39
That’s Not Our Standard
May 1, 2019
Time has passed. Things have happened. The calendar has changed. But our standards are still are standards.
The calendar has turned to May and, even for the most disciplined among us, it is difficult to keep from looking at the end of this month or towards early next without a certain sense of longing. Can we get there? When will we get there? Let us get there very, very soon.
This is a natural phenomenon and a typical one as the end of the school year approaches. It also has a challenging effect. Many of us inevitably suffer a certain breakdown in our work, a kind of let down in our mechanics. We let things past us, let things slip, let things slide.
It is at this time of year when we might, if we put our ear to the ground and listen carefully, hear things like “that didn’t go every well, but it was all right” or “you know, I never would have let the kids get away with that in October,” or “well, that wasn’t the best class I ever taught, but it wasn’t my worst class, either.”
Not my best, not my worst.
That is not our standard.
Remember fall? Remember when we started and we looked into the bright and shiny faces in front of us and thought: this is going to be a great year? Remember we when were ready for all that these nine months would show us, ready to confront all comers? Remember when we had all the energy in the world?
Time has passed. Things have happened. The calendar has changed. But our standards are still are standards. It may be that we have to be more intentional about them, pay more attention to them, put more energy into them.
But they are still our standards.
Sometimes, especially at low energy times, we must reach back and connect. Or we must look forward for energy. Hey, we even sometimes have to fake it until we make it.
And we will make it. The end of the year is coming.
Let us just be sure we arrive at it with our standards as intact as possible.