In a quiet moment, as I passed from one activity to the next, the thought crossed my mind, "By what will my life be defined?" The question has been dogging me for nearly a week. Right now I am caught up in the idea of "teacher." Like many who enter this profession, I want to think that I will have effected some life. That some day a former student might say, "I will always remember Mrs. Yates because...." But, in truth, my occupation is not what I want to be defined by. That alone came as a huge revelation. If this were even five years earlier, I would declare a deep and abiding desire to be remembered as a teacher: a public school teacher, a Bible School Teacher, a Sunday School teacher, a camp teacher, a home teacher.
But as I sort through the thoughts and sift out the gems, I have felt an increasing desire to be defined by, to be remembered as, to be an example of righteousness. Thoughts are rolling through my head, but one thought is emerging and gaining strength: it's not just enough to be a teacher who is righteous, to be a nurse that is religious, to be a cop that is morally upright. I want to be righteous person who was a teacher, a wife, and a mother.
What will define your life?
1 comment:
I agree that it isn't our profession that defines us, or it shouldn't be. It should be the life we live and example we set. Touching lives that way has much more impact than any job could ever have.
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