~No Mrs. Renfro, I mean it~

There is a sweet young lady that I know who takes it upon herself on a regular basis to deliver a message to me.  She's whispered quietly those heartfelt words so often and for some reason they are always given at just about the same time of the day.
"Mrs. Renfro, you are a good teacher."
I always answer her back in the same way.
"Well, I try to be."
Over the course of the last 8 weeks of school, my response to her has been sufficient.  She goes upon her way and I go mine.  Yesterday something was different when she met me at the classroom door.  She relayed the message and I relayed mine.  Thinking we were finished,  I started to move on but that young lady wasn't quite done this time.  
"No Mrs. Renfro.  I mean it.  You really are a good teacher!" 
Perhaps it was the tired look upon my face at the end of the day, one marked with yet even more that we could have gotten to but did not.  Maybe she heard it in my voice in the manner of which I was teaching.  That 5th grader might have even imagined what it was like to stay long after the kids have gone home and still be cleaning up everything before I left for the day myself.  Whatever she saw in her teacher yesterday was the impetus in making sure that I knew that she felt I was valuable to her and the rest of her classmates.

 That child knew that her teacher needed an encourager and she was mine.

 One thing I have learned over the span of the last 4 decades in education is that children are so much wiser than adults ever give them credit for.  As a teacher I am sure that I've felt certain kids were not listening or getting a whole lot from my lessons that day.  At the end of school and long after the kids have gone home, I've sat down at my desk for the first time that day and wondered just what kind of progress I have made.  Even though at times it seems like only a little, the amazing thing is this.

 Kids can and do learn, even if we think they are not.
Teachers have been teaching and students have been learning.

 I know God has reasons for sending any of us to teach in certain places and in certain times.  I'm here in Ponca City, Oklahoma because he felt that it was the place where I was most needed.  There is no celestial dart board upon which God made the choice to send me.  He has things way more together than that.  It's been my experience that wherever I'm called to, then that's where I should go and so without hesitation I do just that.  In my adult way of thinking I've never considered the fact that many times students are sent our way for their own purposes as well.  Yesterday God knew I could use a "cheerleader" to verify the fact that I was making a difference in their classroom.  Just at the right time we met and although she probably doesn't realize it, yesterday her message resonated loud and clear as it came at the most opportune moment of all.
"No Mrs. Renfro.  I mean it.  You really are a good teacher!"

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