A Whole New World

Yikes!  It's been a while since I last wrote a post, so I thought..."What else would I want to do two evenings before school starts?"

So, I thought about what has been floating through my thoughts as of late, and that would be the Disney song "A Whole New World".  Why?  I'm glad you asked..  CHANGE.

Last spring, the superintendent of our school retired, so we have a new superintendent.  Each one we've had in the 19 years of my teaching experience has been different than the one before, which is expected.  The school board hired the middle school principal to take his place.  A new superintendent brings CHANGE.

So, the opening in the middle school was filled by our elementary principal.  That led to our assistant principal being hired as our principal.  Again, the three principals I've had thus far all did things in his or her own way, as expected.  So, a new principal means things will CHANGE.

Then, you have location changes where our preschool was moved to the front of the building causing several kindergarten and first grade classrooms to CHANGE to a different room.  [Between you & me, I am thankful to teach third grade and to remain in the same room where I have taught for around 15 years.]  Learning where to find the various teachers will take some time, but thankfully...their names will be on their doors.

Of course, I always make my own classroom look "different".  I don't like my previous students to come in and say, "This looks just like our classroom."  Instead, they say, "Wow, you really CHANGED the room this year."  Whether it was painting my teacher desk, moving the teacher's aide spot, or altering my classroom management plan, CHANGE abounds in room 302.

You know, sometimes...CHANGE can scare the life out of me.  The unknown can be frightening.  It can cause anxiety.  However, CHANGE can also bring about good.  Honestly, I like the "look" of 302 better this year than any year previous.  I have no doubt that the changes our superintendent and principal prompt will be for the good of our students and our school.  Yes, it may be a bit nerve-racking at times...not knowing how things will go, but I can choose the way I deal with it.

I can choose to trust rather than to fear.
I can choose to see the positive rather than the negative.
I can choose to be a LIGHT even if it's cloudy.
Choose.

So, if you are facing A Whole New World because of CHANGE....I urge you to CHOOSE....Choose to be still & know that He is God...He's got this...every single change you face.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the lilies of the field grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. "  Matthew 6:25-33