Teacher in Development

I just read a fantastic post over at the Cool Cat Teacher Blog called: Perspective

I think it’s fantastic because Vicki writes about what really matters in life. It’s stuff few dare to ponder I think. We strive to succeed. We strive for excellence in our classrooms. We strive to get successful business ventures rolling, we strive to bring in sufficient income to pay the bills and keep food on the table, roof over head etc.

All important things. But a very tricky road to walk. I’m in the middle of trying to get my own free lance buisness off the ground. To me, that has meant getting up at 4:30 and 5:00 a.m., and going hard until 10 or 11 at night. It’s meant logging long hours behind my computer screen, researching this, planning that, developing something else - and then racing about one of the largest cities in the world to meet with clients and give classes.

To add to all this, I have a wife who is 6 months pregnant, and a 3 and a half year old boy. I’m a husband, a father, an active member of my church - I often get asked to "preach", I’m involved with trying to get the children’s program off the ground - as Vicky says in her posts, I, like many of you, have lots of balls to juggle.

What really gets to me, is how fast the important parts of my life get neglected. Just last night, after coming home from a long day (10:30 pm) my wife gave me a hug and told me that she feels like she never sees me anymore. (She works during the day too.)  and she told me that my son was wondering why I wasn’t there to say goodnight. 

Gulp. Could that be the gentle "tap on the shoulder" of perspective? 

What’s important?  I know the answer. My mom and dad always talked to me about that - that God should come first, then your wife, then your kids, then your job. But knowing, and doing are very different things, specially when money and tight budgets are involved.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is this: Spiritual matters, my wife, my son, my health….those would be the glass balls Vicki was talking about. The balls that I cannot allow to fall.  All the busyness, all the running around, all the "new client" hunt - those are important balls, but can bounce a little.

Working hard, and achieving excellence in your profession are not bad things. I think we are called to that…but we are also called to excellence around the parts of our lives that really matter. Sadly, I see in my own heart that I very often think of "the important" as balls that can bounce. That they can be forgotten for a while in order to get the other balls up in the air. But I see that this simply is not true. They may bounce, but bruising may start if they hit the floor too many times.

What about you, are you paying attention to the balls that matter most in your life?