Enjoy the Moment

Although summer has quickly reached its end, this next coming month, week, or even year is HUGE for so many people. Many of my friends are beginning their senior years of college. Some people are transferring to new schools, or starting college for the first time. Some people are getting married this year and starting families. Some are starting out at new jobs. And I am beginning my very first year as a teacher.

As different stories end, other stories begin and unfold in a crazy, but exciting journey. Getting my classroom ready and all the other little things ready for teaching has been so much more work than I had ever imagined. But it has also been so much fun for me. Not because I absolutely love doing all the little things I have to get done, but because this is a new story I have been waiting for my whole life.

Two of the things I have always been most certain about are volleyball and teaching. Even in elementary school, all I ever wanted to do was become a teacher. It’s been a passion that God has so clearly placed in my heart.

But now with hundreds of things to do, it’s been so easy to stress out, to worry, and to allow all this work to really feel like work. However, today I was reminded that I have to enjoy the moment. Even though I may have many first days of school ahead of me, I’ll never have another first year teaching. I’ll never have another first group of students. Honestly, I’ll probably never be as clueless and curious about teaching as I am right now. So I have to enjoy the moment.

A year ago, I never would have imagined that I would be where I am right now. It still almost doesn’t seem real. I feel too young. I feel unqualified. I feel inexperienced. But I also feel the joy, grace, and loving guidance of God directing my feet in each and every moment with this experience. I have so many great people supporting me, encouraging me, and willing to pick me up when I need it. There’s no reason not to enjoy the moment.

I really don’t mean to just write about myself, but I’m so excited to finally start teaching this week that I really can’t help it. My apologies! But I would like to encourage you, however, to enjoy the moment.

 Maybe it isn’t a season of joy in your life right now, and that’s okay. Embrace it and grow. But if you’re in a season of change, or new things, if you’re in a season of curiosity, or if you’re in a season that may be coming to an end soon, I encourage you to enjoy the moment. Life moves way too fast to stress out about the little things. Enjoy the moment!!

“Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.” –Ecclesiastes 5:18