I've accepted a job in 5th grade at New Haven Unified!!! (prayers answered!) What school am I at? Well, I am at 2 schools actually...both Pioneer and Kitayama.
I have accepted the wonderful JOB SHARING position that most people tried to avoid at all costs due to the not-so-ideal schedule it requires. I, however, prayed and prepared myself for my job. I would say I was pretty fully prepared for my new classroom too, especially for not knowing what my job was going to be.
I spent about 2.5 hours in Target getting school supplies (30 minutes alone spent deciding on the perfect planner). I and my team got up early, crossed the bridge to the Children's Book Project in San Francisco- millions of reusable bags in hand - and loaded up on books for my future classroom library (a library for students of a grade that I did not know I was teaching yet but I went the feeling in my spirit that said 5th grade books were what I should be collecting). I was mentally imaging how I would be setting up my classroom and how it would be decorated and all that jazz. Planning and preparation are strong skills of mine and I was putting those skills to work over the summer.
I waited for what seemed like forever for the principals to come back from vacation to offer me an interview for the few remaining open positions in the district; one was a 2nd grade position and the other a 5th grade position, oh, and the lovely 5th grade job sharing position that had been available since March and still had no takers in August. I just pretended like that one wasn't there because I had plans for having my own classroom but of course I should know better than to plan heavily based on what I want when I also want God to place me where I am meant to be. Sooo, finally the principals were forced back into reality and my job hunt could trudge forward as I was offered interviews for both positions; my job was finally coming!
What was actually coming was the longest weeks I had encountered in a while because they would be spent doing everyone's favorite task...WAITING. Waiting for the interview to finally arrive, waiting to enter the interview room, waiting to hear back about the interview and claim my job! Or so I thought. I had actually done all that waiting just to wait for 2 more responses that I had NOT received that last 2 available jobs in the district that would allow me to fly solo as a teacher for the first time...a necessary rite of passage that I would not be participating in this school year. Was I bummed that I didn't get either of the jobs? Yes and no. I was bummed that I knew that I would have to continue waiting for MY job to come to me and I was already so excited to just know what my job was and tell the world about it! But not bummed because I knew my perfect job had not been presented to me yet. You can't rush perfection!
So, I waited for another interview to be scheduled for that 5th grade job sharing position, waited for the day of the interview to finally arrive, waited to go into the interview room, and waited to hear back about whether or not I got the job. In this particular week of waiting, life was moving slower than my World Geography classes in college. As I waited for the phone call offering me the job, I was not worried or stressed about the results of this final chance to become a part of New Haven because I had assurance. I was sure that God had my position set aside for me and I knew that it was coming and I had no reason to worry even though others around me were asking if I had applied to other districts because school was starting in 3 weeks.
Yes, there was a point the day before that final interview that I was frustratedly voicing my slow-building impatience for still having not been told what my job was for this coming school year and in that frustration I was reminded of what I had so quickly forgotten even though I had been practicing it since that first "I'm sorry, but we've decided to choose a different candidate" back in March: that I had no reason to be frustrated/worried/scared about the status of my new career because God had it handled. God, being who He is, patiently listened to my frustration and gave me the best interview to date that fixed the specific elements of this whole "getting a job" process that had so greatly frustrated me in the first place and best of all, gave me my job.
I was quick to think, "Why didn't I just interview for this job when it was first posted way back when? I wouldn't have had to have waited this long to get a job." Well the answer to the question was right there, "I wouldn't have had to have waited this long to get a job." Would I have learned the same valuable lesson in patience and keeping trust and hope in God's plan for me if I hadn't had to wait the whole summer for my job? Probably not. I'd like to think I would so...definitely not. Being tried and tested when trying to earn the things you want most are going to be some of the most difficult tries and tests you will encounter because you have to earn them. If they always just pop up and work out so easily for you, you won't know how to handle the times things don't pop up and work out easily for you. Yes, in the midst of it, it's frustrating but when it pays off, it's more than worth it.
I see the connections of this understanding to my walk with God; when I truly want more of Him and want to earn that privilege of being closer to Him, I get tested and tried and the times that I make it through those tests, the reward is greater than I expected and I am blessed more than I probably actually earned. But that's how God is. Because of all these realizations, I am beyond excited to start in this position and I already see the professional benefits this unique position has for me, benefits that I somehow did not see when I first heard about this position. I am forever thankful for this opportunity and can't wait to see what this year has in store for myself and everyone I will be working with.
T-minus 8 days until the First Day of School!
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