TeacherDevotion The weekly devotional just for teachers! Copyright 2013. Teacher Devotion. All rights reserved. by teachers for teachers. Welcome to Polishing the Apple. These devotions were written during the past twenty years for my staff. It is a privilege to share them with you. May God bless each of you as you strive to make a difference one student at a time. Teacher Devotion for the Week of September 8, 2013 RESTORATION BUILDS GRATITUDE Galatians 6:1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. A knock at the door interrupted my language lesson. I quickly assigned some work to my students to do while I spoke with the visitor. The parent and I stepped just outside the classroom and had a short conversation. Meanwhile, the noise level began to escalate in my classroom. I could tell things were getting out of control, so I excused myself and went back to my class. I wasn’t very pleased with my students. And, of course, I told them so. I lectured them about honoring visitors and being self-controlled and learning to be responsible. I gave them a warning about what would happen if this behavior ever happened again. Their eyes were wide and you could feel the tension in the room. I knew they had gotten my message. Now it was time to restore them. As soon as I finished my lecture, I paused and just looked at them. I then took a deep breath and exhaled loudly and said, “Whew! Aren’t we glad that’s over with? Let’s get back to work.” Then I smiled. The tension broke; you could see their muscles relax. Everything was back to normal. Puzzled, I watched silently as a girl stood up and came toward me. “We love you, Mrs. Wyrick,” she said as she put her arms around me and hugged me. I smiled, patted her shoulder, and she returned to her seat. I then understood the value of restoration. My students knew they were guilty. They were old enough to “know better”. They were also immature enough to get caught up in a conversation and not think about it at the time. They needed forgiveness. My smile and release of tension through my words and body language communicated forgiveness to them. The young girl responded with gratefulness. Restoration will be your spontaneous reaction when you turn your heart toward your students. Because I inwardly released my students from their immature behavior, restoration was a natural response. My students got my message; that was what I wanted. To do any more correction than that on a first offense would have been overbearing. Dear God, Give me a forgiving heart toward others. Teach me to restore someone when it is obvious they know that they are wrong. Help me not to be a “nag”; instead let me lead them to the right path. You are invited to sign my Guestbook. Check in next week for another weekly devotion. Copyright © 2002-2013 by Elderine Wyrick Polishing the Apple NOTE: Educators, who wish to use these devotions or articles to train their staff and share with other teachers, have permission to do so as long as the copies include proper citation including my name, copyright date, and website address. Written permission is required for official publication or use for profit. SUGGESTED CITATION: Wyrick, Elderine (2002-2013). "Article/Devotion Title" in Polishing the Apple, teacherdevotion. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. These Scriptures are copyrighted by the Biblica, Inc.™ and have been made available on the Internet for your personal use only. Any other use including, but not limited to, copying or reposting on the Internet is prohibited. These Scriptures may not be altered or modified in any form and must remain in their original context. TeacherDevotion The weekly devotional just for teachers! Copyright 2013. Teacher Devotion. All rights reserved. by teachers for teachers. Welcome to Polishing the Apple. These devotions were written during the past twenty years for my staff. It is a privilege to share them with you. May God bless each of you as you strive to make a difference one student at a time. Teacher Devotion for the Week of September 8, 2013 RESTORATION BUILDS GRATITUDE Galatians 6:1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. A knock at the door interrupted my language lesson. I quickly assigned some work to my students to do while I spoke with the visitor. The parent and I stepped just outside the classroom and had a short conversation. Meanwhile, the noise level began to escalate in my classroom. I could tell things were getting out of control, so I excused myself and went back to my class. I wasn’t very pleased with my students. And, of course, I told them so. I lectured them about honoring visitors and being self-controlled and learning to be responsible. I gave them a warning about what would happen if this behavior ever happened again. Their eyes were wide and you could feel the tension in the room. I knew they had gotten my message. Now it was time to restore them. As soon as I finished my lecture, I paused and just looked at them. I then took a deep breath and exhaled loudly and said, “Whew! Aren’t we glad that’s over with? Let’s get back to work.” Then I smiled. The tension broke; you could see their muscles relax. Everything was back to normal. Puzzled, I watched silently as a girl stood up and came toward me. “We love you, Mrs. Wyrick,” she said as she put her arms around me and hugged me. I smiled, patted her shoulder, and she returned to her seat. I then understood the value of restoration. My students knew they were guilty. They were old enough to “know better”. They were also immature enough to get caught up in a conversation and not think about it at the time. They needed forgiveness. My smile and release of tension through my words and body language communicated forgiveness to them. The young girl responded with gratefulness. Restoration will be your spontaneous reaction when you turn your heart toward your students. Because I inwardly released my students from their immature behavior, restoration was a natural response. My students got my message; that was what I wanted. To do any more correction than that on a first offense would have been overbearing. Dear God, Give me a forgiving heart toward others. Teach me to restore someone when it is obvious they know that they are wrong. Help me not to be a “nag”; instead let me lead them to the right path. You are invited to sign my Guestbook. Check in next week for another weekly devotion. Copyright © 2002-2013 by Elderine Wyrick Polishing the Apple NOTE: Educators, who wish to use these devotions or articles to train their staff and share with other teachers, have permission to do so as long as the copies include proper citation including my name, copyright date, and website address. Written permission is required for official publication or use for profit. SUGGESTED CITATION: Wyrick, Elderine (2002-2013). "Article/Devotion Title" in Polishing the Apple, teacherdevotion. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. These Scriptures are copyrighted by the Biblica, Inc.™ and have been made available on the Internet for your personal use only. Any other use including, but not limited to, copying or reposting on the Internet is prohibited. These Scriptures may not be altered or modified in any form and must remain in their originext. hese Scriptures may not be sold or otherwise offered for sale.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 09:21:49 +0000
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