A Million Years.

Game Night. Tonight. And every Wednesday night.  And I love them.  We (a select group of friends) get together to play games and eat every Wednesday night after church. Sometimes we have discussions. Sometimes we're just plain silly. And, I always get a laugh thanks to my best friend Ashley. She's awesome. Everyone should have a friend like her. 

Anyway, tonight, as the games were ending, we started talking about schools and stuff of that nature. And, I found myself saying something I thought I'd never say in a million years.  I said that we put too much emphasis on eduction.  Yep, I have a bachelor's degree, and you guessed it... its an elementary education degree. So, basically, I am a teacher.  Thing is, while I believe education is important, I believe that there is so much more to life than education.  I do not want to be known as "the teacher who taught kindergarten, then she moved to fourth grade, then she got her master's, then she went on to be nationally certified, then she moved into administration..."  I want to be known as "Hannah: a great wife, a great mother, a great daughter, a great friend; she showed kindness, hospitality; she was joyful; and most importantly, she loved Jesus."  Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with moving up in your career or becoming more educated which is virtually what a teacher does when he/she moves up.  But, there is so much more to life. 

My point tonight was that, while I believe that getting good grades is important, the child who consistently gets below a C, is in fact no less important than the child who always gets A+.  I wouldn't say I was all about education before, but I used to be on the opposite side of the fence.  My world, my self-worth resided in how well I did in school, what I made on a test, how great I did my first year of college... Then, this happened: 

And my outlook on life completely changed.  I do not want to be that parent that becomes furious over a bad grade. I do not want to be that parent who teaches their children that their self-worth resides in how well they do in school.  I want to be the mama who teaches their child that who they are ultimately resides in Jesus Christ.  I want to teach them that while knowing things is important, it is more important to know people.  I want to be the mama who demonstrates unconditional love.  Who teaches morals and values.  I do not care if I completely forgot how to add and subtract negatives (yes, I actually did forget this while score keeping).  I care about being the best mom I can be.  My self-worth does not reside in the fact that I graduated early from high school, took honors classes, was tested and placed in the gifted and talented program (where I did nothing but learn German and harder math).  These things do not matter.  No one cares about any of this.  When I talk to people, they don't want to know my accomplishments; they want a friend, someone who cares.  And, this is exactly what I want to instill in Isaiah. 

Isaiah challenges me everyday.  I see him learn to feed himself, and I imagine myself having to learn that skill all over.  I take it for granted that I can pick up a fork and usually have enough coordination to eat the food on that fork.  Isaiah challenges me to love. He challenges me in the way I think about things.  How I talk to my husband.  And, he has taught me that his self-worth is not found in a grade book; his self-worth is not a list of accomplishments.  He can't even talk!  His self-worth is found in Christ.