Custom Made Classrooms

I visited with a good friend today about how our lives have unfolded and why we made the choices that we did.  She articulated it very well and I loved it so I wanted to capture it in words before I forgot.

She said that she has had life “classrooms” that were custom made for her.  These classrooms allowed her to have experiences and opportunities and learn lessons that molded her into the person she needed to be.  They put mentors in her path along the way to model or teach things at just the right time.  They taught her how to be organized, how to communicate, how to work hard.  They allowed her to get the education she loved and to have a job in the career she dreamed of having.  They taught her that being a mother and wife needed to take precedence over any other obligation she had.  They taught her how to treat her “job” as a mother and wife like it was her employment so she could have a schedule and expectations and find joy and satisfaction in the tasks there were to perform.

We talked for an hour, so obviously this is a truncated version of our “findings.”  However, it made me contemplate what my “classrooms” in life were and how they molded me into who I am.  My lessons and mentors taught me to work hard and that I could be anything I wanted to be.  They taught me to share my talents and skills whenever the occasion arose, even if I wasn’t perfect at them.  I learned to be organized and efficient.  I learned to feel comfortable talking to people – even if I don’t know them well.  I learned to have faith in God’s plan for me and to do my best to be obedient and follow the counsel I receive along the way.  I, too, was able to obtain a great education and to have a job immediately after graduating.  I had opportunities to travel as part of my education – where I could learn new skills and meet new people and have new adventures.  All of these things together made me feel like I had really lived and made marriage and motherhood a natural transition and not a sacrifice.  And thanks to life’s classroom that was custom-made for me, I have never had regrets with the paths I have chosen.  (Bad days and mistakes along the way, but never a regret at the path.)

I thought it would be fitting to insert a "classroom" like photo here- this is us at Yale

 No matter what “classroom” we are given, we will still have hard things we must overcome (or simply endure!).  We will still not get a perfect score on every test.  Some of those tests will allow retakes, but others, we will simply have to work harder in other areas to make up the difference.  Sometimes we will love every day of class and sometimes the lectures and labs will just be BORING.  But, the important thing is that we show up each day and do our best , learning what it is that we need to know.  And it might be a good idea to find something about the class that brings us joy…even if it is just the blossoming trees outside the classroom window…that gives us the energy to get up and go to work again tomorrow.

Nectarine blossoms in my backyard

That having been said, sometimes your children or friends grow weary of you pointing out the beautiful blossoms (or the way the sun shines on the tips of the mountains at 7:30am), but it doesn’t mean those things aren’t beautiful and meaningful to you.  Keep finding joy in the things that bring you joy and don’t be discouraged if someone else’s idea of “perfect” doesn’t align with yours.  Trust God (the master teacher in this classroom analogy) above the input of your fellow students and let Him be the mentor that makes the biggest difference in your life.

Sunset in the Adirondacks