Well, it isn’t really a secret. By day, during the school year, I am a teacher (gasp). A Kindergarten teacher (enter comment about how “oh my goodness, how in the world can you handle all of the little people craziness?). Keeping it real, folks. I love the little people, because they really, seriously, keep it real! Once this year, one of my students told me I looked 15 and then 85 within a five minute time span. (I liked the “15” part. “85”, not so much.) And then, of course, the unashamed presentation of boogers, the shoe tying, and….worse (I will spare you the details, but let’s just say that the school custodian came to visit my classroom several times in a 4 week span to “clean things up.” I will leave it right there to your imagination.
It is a demanding and exhausting job, but at the same time, I have the privilege of impacting little minds for the future. That probably sounds really cliché, but it’s true! I think the thing I like most about Kindergarten, though, is the “keeping it real” part. It is so easy to lose the sense of this in adulthood. As adults we have to work, raise kids, work, take care of our parents eventually, impress the right people for “that promotion”, deal with this mess, work some more, and deal with that mess. Get the picture? And meanwhile, the 5 and 6 year olds are keeping it real. We don’t have to pretend. We really don’t.
But often, we get so good at pretending that everything is perfect even though we are so stressed out beyond all comprehension that we forget. We just forget. It reflects in our countenance, in how we present ourselves to others, in how we treat others, and in our everyday life. I don’t know about you, but personally, I just want to get out of my head and laugh at myself. I want to just say what I am thinking (with diplomacy and without) without worrying. My introverted personality influences me to keep the boat steady. But really? Sometimes, I wonder why that is? Honestly, I believe it is all rooted to fear. Fear of losing a job, losing a friend, being rejected… We all run around scared sometimes. I vote, that instead of all of this fearful existence stuff, that we just keep it real. What is the alternative? Fear? Losing your joy? No thanks. Instead, I am just going to keep it real. I am going to try really hard. How about you?
1 John 4:18