A safe place

It was one of those days when you wake up after 5 hours of restless sleep, too late to hit the gym. Roll out of bed with a head ache. Somehow take way too long to get ready and when you look in the mirror you look the same as when you rolled out of bed. Get to work late. Every sound intensifies your head ache, including the sound of your own voice trying to make it even a decibal above the dull roar of an oversized 8th grade Spanish classroom. Oh yeah, and it's your long day when you teach every one of your five classes.

Fortunately I can count on one hand how many of these kinds of days I usually have in an entire school year. Unfortunately I also happened to have one of those days the day prior to this particularly not fun day. Fortunately my students are pretty darn amazing and while they have more energy individually than 100 of me collectively... and have brought a very literal meaning to the phrase 'bouncing off the walls'... they are really really great people. Unfortunately the fact that it was Friday only made me bummed that I couldn't enjoy such a glorious day of the week. Fortunately, as all days do, it had an end. Which unfortunately did not come soon enough.

But that's not the point of this post. The point is, the sweet girl who is in my study hall had no idea I was in such a state when she walked into my class and said with enthusiasm 'Hi Ms. Della Gatta! I love coming into your classroom. It doesn't matter what kind of day I'm having. I always feel happy when I walk in. It just has this good feeling.' She's mentioned that before to me. But on that Friday it meant the world. I was so grateful for that sincere expression of just a thought she had as she walked into my room.

So often I feel like I'm falling short of my goals as a teacher- patience, understanding, being approachable, teaching in a way that is easy to understand, making students feel like they are working hard at something they can achieve and feel good about, and most importantly, that they feel what that student feels when she walks into my classroom. Safe and loved.

Heavenly Father always has a place where we can feel that way. It is always accessible to us and becuase He is perfect, this place is constant. It's the place where the Spirit abides, that can be accessed just by turning to Him. Through scripture study or sincere prayer. By attending the temple, going to church, serving someone. Whatever it is that invites the Spirit into our lives, that's the safe place where we can feel love and any bad day can become better, even beautiful. So the next time I have 'a day' instead of thinking 'I'll read my scriptures/pray/serve/folllow that prompting later. There's no way I can fit that in right now and definitely no way I could do it effectively' I will rethink:)