Seeding the Future

When I started out in my career as a teacher, I was green and rough around the edges. My intentions were good, but implementation lacked quite a bit. Each year in the classroom, I slowly evolved into being more aware of what I was doing and the impact it had on students. After 5 or 6 years, I believed that I had figured it out. Little did I know that I had much more to learn about being a successful educator. My ego often was a barrier to my personal growth. If you believe you know it all, you don’t open the door to growth and new experiences. Fortunately, various life experiences and key people around me helped me to break down my assumptions and to seek deeper understanding about my profession.

Thirty-six years further along my career path, I am thankful for the opportunities I have had and all the students and staff I have come to know along the journey. Here are a few things that I have been reflecting on lately:

·       There is always more to learn, we just need to make room for it in our lives.

·       Sometimes we must let go of past beliefs, past habits, past relationships to be able to embrace the meaningful things around us in the present.

·       Investing in others every day is a way to touch eternity. We are just here for a short period of time. However, when we give of ourselves, our skills, our knowledge, our experiences, we are investing in the future in a profound way.

This last bullet has me thinking about gerbera daisies. Several are beginning to bloom in our front yard. They slowly raise their heads to the sun over a couple of days. When they finally open up to the world, they are bright and stunning. In good conditions, they maintain their full color for many days as others grow around them. However, at some point, they begin to fade. Eventually, the bloom transforms into a bundle of seeds that are carried away by the elements. Those seeds, when they find a receptive home, begin a new cycle of inspiration. In many ways, my career is represented by those daisies. I am not sure how much longer I will still be in the main mix, but I can say that it’s been an amazing ride so far. All of us must face that our presence in this world is temporary. One of the most important things we can do with this reality is to let the seeds of our experiences disperse out to those around us. Through this, we provide the foundation for new growth for the generations to come.