Encouragement on a Discouraging Day

This post is not about today, but about something that happened yesterday and really touched my heart so much that I'm still thinking about it today.

Yesterday was sort of a discouraging day. My kids were not listening. My "Miss Metzler Smiles" thing was not working as well as it was in the very beginning. I was getting really frustrated and it was only lunch time. Ahh! But then something happened that helped to turn my day around and open my eyes to the impact that I do have on my kids...even when it seems like they're completely ignoring me.

One of my girls has really been frustrating me lately because she is in the middle of every little girl fight that happens in my class. She'll glare at people and roll her eyes at people and shout at people...she's just mean when she gets upset. But the thing is, she's usually only upset for a few minutes and then she wants to play with the girls that she was just really mean to. But they DON'T want to play with her anymore. (I wouldn't either!) I've been trying and trying to explain this to her and to show her that she needs to be nice to her friends. I'm trying to teach her better ways to express her anger other than yelling or making mean faces. But it just has not been working. She seems to understand, but then she gets mad and goes right back to her old habit of yelling and face-making. It really stirs up the girls in my class and makes them start to take "sides." You know, 1/2 my girls are on this "mean" girl's "side" and the other 1/2 are on the "side" of the girl who was hurt by the first girl's meanness. (Sorry if that's confusing.) Anyways, this girl had used up almost all my patience, and I was at a loss to know how to handle her. I was to the point where I was almost (almost) wishing she wasn't in my class. It was hard to love her.

(That's the background/frustrating part of this story...now for the good part.)

I was on lunch/recess duty yesterday, and this "mean" girl was standing beside me. (Oh yes, here's the kicker, the thing that makes me feel horrible for struggling to love this girl...she LOVES me!!! So much!) Another one of my girls came up to me and told me that her friend (also in my class) did not have any lunch because her mom forgot to bring it. I just happened to have 100 pesos (about $3.00) in my pocket, so I gave it to this girl and told her to tell her friend to get something to eat so that she would not have to go hungry. This is not something I normally do, but this time I decided to do it. Well, the "mean" girl watched the whole thing and after the other girl ran off with the money, she looked at me and asked if that was my money that I had given the other girl. I told her that it was, and she said, "Wow Miss Metzler, you are SO generous!!" This melted my heart, because I have been teaching them about generosity and how if they have something and they see someone who needs help, they should help them. She listened and understood and knows how to apply it! Wow! :) And then it happened again. Also with the "mean" girl. (She has a name, but I don't want to use it here, so that's why I'm calling her "mean" girl. I don't really think of her that way, don't worry. I do love her, even on the difficult days.) Here's what happened this time. One of my boys had a fork from home and he asked me to hold it during recess. So I did. Again, something that I don't normally do because I don't want to end up holding and being responsible for a million things! Well, sometime as I was walking around on recess duty, I dropped the fork. I went back to look for it, but I could not find it. I told "mean" girl that I had lost the fork and that I felt really bad because the boy was trusting me to take care of it. She didn't really say much. Then, as we were walking in after recess, I found the fork! I was so glad! (Yes, "mean" girl was there for this whole thing, she was my shadow yesterday at recess.) When I gave the fork back to the boy, I told him that I had lost it and then found it again, and I apologized for doing that. "Mean" girl heard me telling him that and said, "Yes! Good job, Miss Metzler, because it's ALWAYS better to tell the truth, even if it's something bad like that and you might get in trouble." Wow again! I've been trying to get the point across to my students that lying is never good. I told them that not telling someone something that has happened is just like lying because you are hiding the truth. I'm trying to teach them that even if they do something really bad, they need to tell the truth about it. Even if they think they are going to get in trouble. Telling the truth is always better! And she got it!!! She got it!! Yay! I could have cried, I was so happy! And you know what else...it could have been any of my students that said those things to me and it would have made me happy, but God knew that I needed something positive about "mean" girl, something to open my eyes to the good in her again. So He encouraged me in my teaching through a most unlikely student. Wow! God is so great! :)

Oh...here's another encouraging thing that happened on a very discouraging day awhile ago. The day after the earthquake in Haiti, the little devotional book that I start each day out with in my class had a devotion about trusting God even in trials. It couldn't have been more perfect because I tied it in to the earthquake. I told my kids that the people in Haiti who lost everything and are very sad right now can still trust God and thank God even though their lives are very hard now. They can look for the good things and trust that God will take care of them. The next day after that was when I was sick and in the hospital. My sub had my kids make cards for me, and I loved them all! But there was one in particular that touched my heart and I hope I never forget it. One of my boys (who is very sweet/smart/cute/well behaved...one of my favorites that I know I'm not supposed to have) wrote this in his card: "Dear Miss Metzler. I hope you get well. I hope you come back too! We all miss you. God will heal you at home. We all pray for you. Remebrer: Pray to God even in trials!" All the first part of that was sweet, but all the cards said all that stuff. Then I read that last part "Remebrer: Pray to God even in trials!" and I started bawling! I had just taught my kids about that 2 days before and he remembered it and understood it well enough to know how to apply it...and he knew how to use it to encourage me. Wow! Sometimes I teach my 2nd graders, and sometimes my 2nd graders teach me!!

Well, this has gotten very long! I hope and pray that all of you are doing well! :) Goodbye until next time!