Before the Morning, Josh Wilson *lyrics!*

I LOVE this song!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

The Tongue (Part 3)

            The next few posts are going to be about the tongue.  GOD has been speaking a lot to me about it in the past week or so and I wanted to share with all of year everything I have learned.

The bible has a lot to say about tongues.    When you think about it, creation happened because GOD SPOKE it into existence.  The bible is called:  “The WORD of GOD.”    Words are powerful and the bible has warnings about staying away from gossip, slander, and hurtful words.  Rather, we should use our words to edify, to build up, and to encourage each other in the LORD.  

            I learned early in my teaching career that I have a very strong voice.  I can project it and it is a clear, pleasant tone.   I have been told I have a good speaking voice and I communicate well when I speak.    I can silence a room full of children with one simple sentence.    I have a good speaking voice and people want to listen to what I say just because of the way I speak.

            In Proverbs it states: “The tongue has the power of life and death.”  (Proverbs 18:21) .   I have found that I need to be very careful with my words because of my voice.  My tongue has the power to destroy someone with one short phrase.  I can crush spirits without even raising my voice.   This is the power of death.   My voice can do just the opposite- it can promote life.  I can encourage, and lift up the spirits of another person.  I have been known to encourage someone to the point of tears, as they lay their burdens onto my listening ear out of frustration.   “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.” (Proverbs 15:4).

I am always telling my students to use their words to “heal not hurt.”  Instead of yelling at my challenging students, I find it’s best to pull them aside privately and just talk to them.  Find out why they are acting the way they are.   My students respond better to softly spoken words filled with genuine care than yelling.    “A gentle answer turns away wrath” (Proverbs 15:1).  Perhaps that is why I can defuse tempers and the difficult students respond well to me.   I will hear stories about students flipping over desks and throwing books~  Those same kids would never act like that in my room. 

The tongue is a powerful thing.

~Sunny :D

The Tongue (Part 2)

            Gossip.  I try to avoid gossip and those who gossip.   I try not to gossip about others because I usually have better things to do than waste my time talking about someone else.     It has been said that gossip is the lowest form of intellectual conversation.   I am a creative person, a deep thinker and gossip is not part of that kind of reasoning.

            Even with all of that said, I have found myself surrounded by gossip at work.   I am not going to sugar coat things~ My boss is very demanding and difficult to work with.   People are typically saying very negative things about her and it becomes difficult not to feed off of that negativity. 

            I am a “glass half full” kind of gal, and even I have to use real effort to find something about my boss that is positive.   This is especially difficult after a bad evaluation where she tears me apart.

            I have realized that there is SO MUCH gossip around me.  Who is leaving, who is staying.  Who wants to leave but can’t.   Who is too lazy to interview somewhere else.  Who got good evaluations; who got bad ones.   Who to avoid because they are one of the few people who like our boss and will report back to her everything that is said. 

            Avoiding gossip in an environment that rich in it can pose to be a challenge.  I am learning to bite my tongue, hold my breath and become a listening ear when I am told about the latest nugget of “juicy” information.  It is difficult not to voice an opinion about a situation when emotions and tempers get involved.    It is difficult to stay quiet I see how hurt my friends are by things my boss said.

Have you ever heard the expression “Add fuel to the fire?”    Often that phrase is used when someone needs to control the tongue or his or her temper.  It basically means one person starts something and the other person makes it worse by saying or doing something to make the first person angry.

Slander and gossip work the same way.   One person says something bad about someone and the next person “adds fuel to the fire” by saying something equally awful.    In the book of James there is a verse that is very similar to our familiar expression:  “ Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark”(James 3:5).    When a negative thing is spoken, often another person will add “fuel to the fire” and the whole mess will explode into a huge fireball of hatred.

            I have to remember that a gossip will gladly repeat what you say to the next available listening ear.  Proverbs states:  “A gossip betrays confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret”. (Proverbs 11:13).   How can I be sure that anything I say will be kept in confidence?  The only way to avoid being the object of gossip is to be very careful about what you say.   Avoid gossip and stay away from those who spread gossip.

           

~Sunny :D

The Tongue (Part 3)

I searched and searched and I was unable to find a new job for next year.   Things between my principal and I are very bad this year and I desperately wanted to leave.  (10 out of 25 teachers resigned this year~ so it was not just me~ and more are leaving everyday).     The jobs I wanted in my district got filled before I could even apply so I started to apply in surrounding school districts~ all in a feeble attempt to leave.   GOD kept every door closed that I knocked on.  I accepted the fact that I will be there next year. 

I searched my heart and asked GOD what the purpose of me staying in that school would be.  Then I got a series of verses about the tongue.  Things like: “A gentle answer turns away wrath”  (Proverbs 15:1).   “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit” (Proverbs 15:4).

I anticipated that I would have a long conversation with my boss~ and I was getting warnings to watch my tongue.  Two days later, I found myself sitting in her office airing my grievances.   She is my boss, so I had to speak with gentle tongue.  I backed up what I said with specific incidences from our interactions together.   I explained how her criticism made me feel. I felt unwelcomed and unappreciated for the things I do right.  

She cried.  It was kind of awkward and a little humbling to see your boss cry.

            She apologized for making me feel that way and verbally considered the idea that her behavior might be the reason for the mass exodus from our school.   She told me that I was the third teacher to approach her with this same topic in the last week.   She told me that I was “one of the best teachers she ever had”.  Then I showed her my evaluations which told a very different story.  She recognized why I would feel so undervalued based on her behavior.

            I am not super thrilled to return back to that school in the fall.   I know I will need to spend time with GOD this summer to prepare my heart for next year.  However, I am hoping that our “little chat” will make her think twice about the way she interacts with me next year.   I suppose all I can do is trust that GOD has a plan for my life and things will be better for me next year.

~Sunny :D

7 YEARS

It has been said that every 7 years you change friends because you reach different stages in your life.   I arrived in Phoenix on July 4, 2007.   It has almost been 7 years since I first arrived here.   During my 7 years in the state of Arizona, I completed my Master’s degree and most of the friends I have were made because of my coursework.   One by one I have witnessed them start new adventures and I feel like it’s time to close that chapter on my life.  

            They are wonderful people and I made many fond memories with them during the past 7 years.   We all lived so far away from our families that we celebrated holidays together.   We even had the honor of celebrating Thanksgiving with a few of our professors one year.  I was with them every weekend and often throughout the week.  Game nights, movie nights, dinner parties, piñata’s, baseball games, road trips, hiking, pool parties and the list can go on and on.  My scrapbooks are filled with amazing memories that I am very thankful for.  I rarely stayed home on Friday night. 

Many of them have moved away.  A few have decided to start a family.  One of them has left education to pursue other interests.  Three of them are relocating out of state in a few weeks.   I feel displaced when I am with them.   I used to feel so close to my friends and now we all sit in the same room and have nothing to talk about.   We no longer have that common thread of classes to talk about so we all feel like strangers.   

            I suppose it’s time for GOD to place new people in my life.   It’s been almost 7 years since I arrived to Phoenix.   I have made a few friendships with people at my school, but those I am close to are leaving at the end of the school year.  I don’t anticipate those friendships will continue once summer ends.  I am not sure what GOD has up his sleeve, but I am sure it will be a wonderful blessing for me.   I think it is a new season for me.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven”.

~Ecclesiastes 3:1

~Sunny :D

Want to contact me?

     I have been writing this blog for nearly a year and this is my 100th blog post!   I want to celebrate this occasion by allowing some of my regular readers to contact me.

Here is an e-mail address for me:

Sunnyrock275@yahoo.com

I will check it once or twice a week.  I look forward to hearing from all my wonderful readers!

~Sunny :D

My FAVORITE verse!

I am going to share my FAVORITE verse with you.    Everyone has a verse (or two, or several) that they just hold onto for one reason or another.   I will admit that this verse is probably not what you expect to be my favorite verse. 

Here it is:

“To him who overcomes I will give the right to eat from the tree of life.”

~Revelation 2:7

There are many warnings about interpreting revelation so I am not going to attempt to give you my feeble musings about this amazing verse.    I remember this verse when times are tough and it helps me get through.  Heaven is real and I can’t wait to go there!   I hope you are as blessed by this verse as I am.

~Sunny :D