The day has been long. Your students are gone. The classroom is a mess  and your desk is piled high with paperwork while your to-do list grows by the minute.  You begin to slog through the to-do list when there is a knock at your door.

It is a student who stopped by because they didn’t understand the Math lesson from earlier that day.

It’s a student who forgot a paper in their desk, and when they go to pull out the paper, their entire desk explodes with other papers, pens, Lego pieces, and a half-eaten sandwich from last week.

Or perhaps your phone rings and it’s a parent who wants to have a long conversation.

Another student’s parent emails and lets you know that Junior is not getting the content – could you meet with him when you have a chance?

And sometimes, I don’t have a very good attitude with all of the requests that come my way. I begin to grumble in my heart.

Will the grading never end?

Why can’t that student just clean up after themselves?

Why does that parent have to call and talk to me again?

How on earth am I supposed to fit one more thing in?

I thought teaching would be different – more dramatic moments of touching kids’ hearts and lives…less paperwork!  I thought I would be seeing these students change under my guidance while inspirational music swells in the background (can you tell I really love those teacher movies?). Many days, I find that I am just teaching them to clean up their trash from the lunch table, learn their multiplication tables, and be kind to their friends (while a student whistling during class provides  the “inspirational” background music).

But sometimes the mundane and messy parts of teaching are where Christ can shine the brightest through us.

After all, look how Christ Himself spent His final hours- doing a simple chore.

He wrapped himself in a towel and one by one began to wash His disciples’ feet. This was a servant’s job, yet the King of all is seen kneeling on the floor, lifting up dirty foot after dirty foot and gently bathing them.

He washed their feet, knowing that in mere hours they would forsake Him.

He washed the feet of Simon Peter, knowing that Peter would fiercely deny ever knowing Him the very next day.

And yes, He even washed the feet of Judas, the disciple who had been with Him all of this time, had seen the miracles…and was planning on betraying Christ that very night.

But Jesus served them quietly and humbly.

And He wants us to serve those He has placed in our lives. He wants us to get right down into the trenches where it is not always pretty, and where our students don’t always “deserve” it, and to pick up a towel and begin to wash their dirty feet.

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. (John 13:14)

So what does it look like for us to wash our students’ feet?

• Perhaps staying late to help with academic work.
• Giving up some of our prep period to help a student get their desk and binder organized (I am sure there is a very special crown in Heaven for this!)
• Grading (Yes! Grading their papers is one way that I can serve my students!)
• Giving up part of your Saturday to attend their soccer game.
• Taking the extra time to provide support for a student or family.
• Setting aside our to-do list to listen or to help.
• Your free time that you give up to plan, grade, contact parents, and do all of the other things that don’t fit into an 8 hour day (or even a 10 hour day!)
• Searching in your white skirt & pearls for their baritone in the dumpster after school (true story – don’t even ask how a baritone gets accidentally thrown away).

These are all things that can be difficult to do…or at least, difficult to do with the right attitude. Sometimes we simply need to lay aside our titles, our college degrees, our years of experience, and get down to serve our students. When we serve, we look like Christ. Just as Christ’s final hours washing His disciples’ feet were not a waste of time, the time and energy that we give to our students is never wasted – it’s an eternal investment.

After all, when we stand before Christ, He is not going to be looking at the grades our students got on the standardized tests. He is not going to be looking at our “Teacher of the Year” honor or our advanced degrees. He is not going to look at the number of workshops we have presented. He is going to be looking at how we showed our love for Him and others.

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. (II Corinthians 12:15)

I had the privilege of serving at a Christian camp for three years. The president of the camp, Dr. Ken Collier, would tell us the story of a man whose motto in life was “He who dies with the most toys wins”. Dr. Collier changed this motto around to fit our ministry…

He who dies with the dirtiest towel wins. – Dr. Ken Collier

So who’s ready to go get some towels dirty?

There are days when I look at teaching and decide that there is no way I can do this. I’m pretty sure there is no way that anyone can do this!
How on earth am I supposed to teach Bible, Spelling, Handwriting, English, Math, Science, History, and Reading while meeting the physical, social, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual needs of all these students? In 7 hours a day!?! And that doesn’t even include the grading or lesson planning!

Teaching requires a lot of time and a lot of energy. There are simply not enough hours in the day to get it all done. There is just no way that you can have the wisdom to deal with all of the situations you come across day by day.  Some days you go, go, go – trying to meet the needs of your students, their parents,  your school, your family, and church.  And if you are like me, there are some days you feel like you have absolutely nothing left to give.

But I am reminded of some other exhausted teachers with some very limited resources…

We all remember the Sunday school story of the feeding of the 5,000. It was an incredible miracle and made for a great lesson!  However, have you ever thought about the events leading up to the miracle (Mark 6)?

Christ’s cousin, John the Baptist, had just been brutally executed.

The disciples had just returned from their journeys where they were teaching,healing, and casting out demons. They had been so busy that Scripture says, “they had no leisure even to eat” (v. 30).

They must have been exhausted from it all. And Christ invited them to get away and rest. He knew they needed a break.

Yet news got out, and when they arrive for their mini vacation, thousands of people are waiting there for them.

And Jesus doesn’t turn them away. He has compassion and begins to minister to them.

I can only imagine what went on in some of the disciples’ heads. I mean, if it were me, I would probably be fighting back tears or a temper tantrum (probably both). Lord, I have been so busy for you. I just needed this time to breathe. Can’t you tell all of these people to just wait until tomorrow?

So they minister to this crowd on the day that was supposed to be their rest day,  and near the end of a long day, Jesus asks them to do the impossible. Feed all of these people- 5,000 men plus their families.

I think I would have lost it.

How could Christ do that to them? They had been working so hard for Him, had spent their vacation ministering to people, and now He wants them to feed all of these people!

They check their resources – just a few loaves of bread and a few fish.

And Christ wants them to feed over 5,000 people with that?

Yet, look at what happens when the disciples bring their limited resources to Christ. He multiplies it…a lot. They had enough to complete the job Christ had given them…plus leftovers! They ended up with 12 extra baskets (hmm…enough for each disciple to take home a basket?)

Christ didn’t need the disciples, and he didn’t need those loaves and fishes to feed the 5,000. He chose to take those limited resources and do something incredible with them…something that pointed people to Him.

Sometimes in teaching, you will feel completely at the end of your rope. You will feel exhausted and you will have nothing left to give – your resources will look like those paltry loaves and fishes. You just don’t have enough time, energy, or wisdom to meet the demands of the job.

But when we turn to Christ with the little we do have, He multiplies it to become enough – no, more than enough!  He gives the grace for you to meet the obligations you have.  This is not to say that there are times that you need to get away, rest, or say “no” (that’s another post for another day). But I am reassuring you (and myself!) that God gives grace to do what He has called us to do today.

He calls us to do the impossible so He can show us His incredible power.

And He loves you so much that He isn’t going to just give you enough to meet the needs of others – He is going to take care of you and your needs, just as He did with the disciples. And when He does this, the glory goes to Him!

You don’t have to do today on your own – surrender your limitations to Christ and let Him do something amazing!

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. II Corinthians 12:9