This little desk is a safe space for my students. Sometimes I sense their need to talk , I pat on the desk and they come by and sit. It brings me great joy to listen to their stories, their journey, challenges and wins. It has always been a goal of mine to create a sense of community and family in my classroom. Experience has taught me that my students feel at home when they sense authenticity. I laugh at myself – they laugh at themselves. I share my blunders and missteps in life- they share theirs. When my stories of defeat and triumph can encourage, I share. My students, who are all adult immigrants, need to know that there’s light on the other side of the tunnel. I pray the footprints I leave will bring them hope in their tough days. I pray they’ll see we are equally human.
It doesn’t take much to listen. Often people are not looking to us for answers; they just want a listening ear. They are looking for place to think aloud or just to be heard. This simple act of listening gives me immense joy. Maybe we can try to listen more and ‘fix’ less. Leave the ‘fixing’ to God. He alone knows and has capability to carry each broken soul ‘on His back’.
The one who gives an answer before he listens–that is his folly and his shame [Proverbs 18:13 NET]
Understand this…Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving] [James 1:19 AMP]
Restored Hearts 