Last night we had awards night for the school my daughter attends which is also the same school I teach at. I teach the Performing Arts to a group of teenage girls and boys. I have been doing it for longer than my daughter has been in school. I have my up’s and down’s, or should I say, love/hate relationship with teaching this class. It takes so much committment, time, and work. Sometimes, this leaves me wondering why I do this (I am just being honest).

My ‘why’s’ are always put to rest when I see one of my students up there performing. To the average eye, that teenager looks like they have been singing or acting for years as they portray so much confidence, but I know what it took for them to get there. I know it took hours and hours of work, memorization, and practicing. Then, it took fighting the fear and the voices that tell you that you aren’t good enough. What the other people don’t see was the hour I spent with that student as they fought fear of failure and fought back the tears of disbelief in themself.

Then it’s all worth it when I see them standing up there doing there absolute best performance and when they come off that stage, it’s the look that they give me of pure delight in themselves in what they have just accomplished. There is nothing, I repeat nothing like that moment shared between one of the students and I.

Last night was a beautiful night to be apart of and watch as all the students received awards and smiled and laughed with each other. There was one moment that I was apart of that meant the world to me. I was sitting at a table and the teenage girls came up to me and asked for pictures with me. I was so surprised and gladly took part.

I know that it doesn’t seem like much, but as I was going to bed last my heart was so full. I reminisced over all the years I have taught, all the students I have sat down with, and all of the off-key singing, horrible memory work, and bad acting rehearsals I have sat through. I remembered how many times I have complained about teaching. It was like I suddenly came to the realization that I had viewed this situation all wrong. I was looking at it like something I had to do and give of myself without anything in return. It was that attitude that stopped me from the blessing that God was so freely given me.

The Bible calls our children a blessing. How favored am I to be able to spend every week with a whole group of them? I get to see their good, bad, and their ugly. I get to spend a day a week with them goofing off and acting like a 14-year-old girl all over again. I get to reenact Beyoncé’s “All the Single Ladies” dance with a room full of teenagers, just because we want to. I get to rap the “Fresh Prince of Belair” theme song a million times on the fly because they like it. Most importantly, I get to watch a big group of amazing teenagers become world changers. What is so amazing is God let me be apart of that. I have looked at it so wrong, it’s not just me teaching them, but it’s also me learning from them and being blessed by them.

In my time of reflection last night as I lay in my bed, I thought of that verse that says, “Let no one despise you of your youth.” I teach the students this verse all the time. I tell them that they can touch someone’s life just has well as a minister who has been speaking for years. The thought occurred to me though, if they don’t see that I can learn from them or that they can speak a word that could change my life… do I make that verse null and void to them? I realized that I have always thought of the kids as “My students” and that they could only learn from me. Reality is that I could learn from them as well. Yes, I am still their teacher but there are little nuggets in each day with them that teach me things. I am so grateful for this. I am so grateful for the moments I am able to spend with them. I am so grateful for the chance to teach and be taught. This next generation is something to look out for…. they are going to do AMAZING THINGS.