Am I Making a Difference?

Good morning, God!  It's Monday, and it's the start of a new week and a new work week.  Many things are going to happen to me and around me and because of me this week, and I hope that you'll be there with me, strong in my mind and spirit, so that any decisions that I make, any actions that I take, will be a reflection of love and caring and compassion instead of self-interest or fear.

You know, as each week starts I feel something similar--I wonder if what I'm doing is making any sort of difference at all.  Am I contributing in positive ways to the education and well-being of my students, or am I just doing a job for pay?  Am I giving enough of myself?  Am I treating the kids well?  All of them?  And I guess that the most important question that I can ask is whether or not what I'm doing will have any sort of lasting value, or if all that I do is simply forgotten at the end of the year.

It's very different teaching the freshmen and sophomores who really don't have any idea of the importance of what we do in class, and who for the most part don't care much about the education they're receiving.  To them, class work is something to get through, period.  Am I making a difference?  I know that I'm fully aware of the fact that I'm in a field in which most of the gratification is long deferred, and very often never even seen by the teachers.  But sometimes it would be nice to know that in some way I am making even the slightest difference.

A reply:
You know already one of the most important principles in life:  if you do what you do with love, then you are making a positive difference in the lives of all those who come in contact with the work you do.  While sometimes the feeling of love may not be there, you know that you do love what you do and that you do love the students who are there in your class, so no matter where your heart or mind may be at any given moment, you are still there in love, and you are still acting in love.

The love is the part that does allow you to "make a difference."  For some students, they may not retain much of the subject matter at all, but they'll  remember that they were treated well in the classroom, and they'll appreciate that fact very much.  In that way, yes, you are making a difference.  And remember the email from Rebekah, in which she told you that she didn't realize until she left just how much she appreciated the way you treated her.

And most of  the students will retain much of what you do in class.  For them, too, you are making a difference, because their work will be much easier in future classes.  For them, the papers that they write in the future will come much more easily, and you'll be contributing to the lack of stress in their lives.  They'll certainly appreciate that.

You do know this already:  You're in a field in which most gratification is deferred, and much of it is never manifested.  Because of this, you have to trust more than many others--trust that what you're doing is positive, that it has positive effects, and that it is a positive contribution to the lives of those who are touched by your teaching.  Are you the best teacher in the world?  Probably not.  The most effective?  Probably not.  But because you teach from a place of love and compassion and respect, trust me--you're way, way up there, and you do make a difference.