Last week, the teachers and I attended the Triannual Lutheran Educators Convocation (LEA).  This is a great opportunity to connect with old friends, make new friends, spend time with each other outside of school, learn about being a teacher, spend time in God’s word, and so much more.  There was very little downtime. There were participants from 34 states, and 9 countries which accounted for over 2,700 people, many of whom were Lutheran educators.  

This year’s convocation theme was “Opening Eyes, Minds, & Hearts” and was based on Ezekiel 36:26, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”  LEA shared the message in part, from the eyes, mind, and heart of an educator. During each whole group session, these characters acted out the joy, struggles, excitement, and heartaches that teachers typically go through. We are blessed to be in a field where we spend a large amount of time with students and are able to build relationships with them.  Every day we come to school asking God to open our eyes to “see” our students and families. Every day we put our minds to work to determine the best way to help our students and families learn spiritually, academically and emotionally. Every day our hearts are filled with joy and aches. Every day we give praise to God for gifting us with the ability, desire, and vocation of being a teacher.  

I once was told that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.  I can’t say that has always been true for me in my ministry, but looking back, I can see how God has worked through me and those around me to serve Him.  We are told to “rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances” and are even more blessed to know that we are able to do this because God is greater than us.