Which would you rather was your story?
What’s your story? PICTURE: John Schnobrich/Unsplash
You inherited a bright, well-behaved group of students, taught them for an uneventful year, and they moved up another grade.
Or, you inherited a difficult group of students of mixed ability, with everyone having low expectations of them because of their disadvantage.
You had to work hard with them, get to really know them. It tested you mentally, emotionally. There were tears and tantrums but also breakthroughs and blessings. At the end of the year expectations were exceeded, memories made, and lives changed.
I know many who choose the second. Maybe not every year. But to really live life to the full, you do need challenge, adventure, even suffering.
Suffering – it’s never easy going through it, but it defines and refines us in life.
Paul Clark’s musings can be heard on radio across Australia and at atthetop.org.au.
