Even though I paused my teaching career over a decade ago to raise my three children, I can still remember that August day in 1997 when I entered my seventh grade language arts classroom for the first time. I loved teaching. The creativity involved in planning engaging ways to present new information. The thrill of working with other educators to craft a grade-level project. The look in my students’ eyes when they grasped a concept. The satisfaction of witnessing students practice novel skills to obtain mastery of a standard. 

However, within a few years, I discovered this aspect of teaching was only a portion of my job. My job also included the “business” facets of education—interviewing for new positions, planning for substitutes, managing my classroom, dealing with my student loans, managing my time while coaching. I also realized that this portion of my job drained me, causing me to doubt if I wanted to stay in this profession. 

But, as soon as the doubt began to creep in, God reminded me of the calling I felt on the first day I entered my classroom. I knew God wanted me to show my co-workers, my students, and their parents God’s love through every interaction. He reminded me that I have the power of the Holy Spirit to help me manage the “business” aspects of teaching. Beyond that, He assured me He could even use the “business” portion of my job (the part I seriously disliked) to bless those in my school.

Maybe you can relate to the love/hate relationship I felt toward teaching. And for most of you, this seemingly never-ending pandemic has only increased the “business” aspects of education—technology, maintaining communication while distance learning, adapting to uncertain schedules, etc. Despite these challenges, I encourage you to hold fast.

We at CEAI believe that God still wants to use you to transform your school with His love and truth. We believe He has intentionally placed you in your school with your students, their families, and your co-workers during this challenging time. We also believe He has provided the Holy Spirit to empower you to manage the “business” that comes along with teaching—including the formidable “business” arising from a pandemic. Furthermore, we believe God can even utilize those burdensome “business” aspects of your job as a means to bless those in your school.

"With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians 11-12, NIV).