Giving God Your Best
If you were ever going to make a promise to me about anything and my siblings were near, they’d probably whisper to you, “Don’t make Bernie a promise unless you’re pretty sure you’re gonna keep it because she’ll hold you to it.” And unless there’s a VERY good reason I expect promises made to me to be kept even those made by children…
Would I really hold a child to a promise? In a heartbeat. Now before I ruffle the feathers of all protective mamas let me explain. I’m a teacher and as a teacher I expect excellence from my students. At the beginning of the school year we discuss their goals, my expectations and how we’re going to make our year together an exciting and productive one. Then they learn a class pledge; Part of the class pledge says
As a citizen of Grade 4M I make a pledge this day, to strive for excellence in all I do and say.
My students and I discuss this class pledge and what it means. They know I consider this a promise and once made I expect it to be kept. To that end, I sometimes make my students quite angry, like today when I made three students redo an assignment that I was not pleased with while the rest of the class did an Art project. I had three students who at that moment didn’t like me very much but you know what, I got better results from them. BTW, I got great big smiles when they saw their improved results. They had the capability of doing it all along but I had to insist on it and draw it out of them.
There are days in my role of teacher that I’m reminded of the greatest teacher and my place as a student in His classroom. On those days I wonder;
Am I the type of student I want my students to be?
Do I do His work in excellence?
Do I keep the promises I’ve made to Him in regard to doing His work?
Do I get angry when He probes me, chastise me and encourages me to work up to His standards?
Do I really give Him my best?
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, Colossians 3:23 NIV
I’ll stop right here because honestly, I’m still in a reflecting and questioning mood. However, my prayer is that one day, because of my Master Teacher; I will become the finished product I want my students to become.
As a teacher maybe this post spoke louder to me, but I think we all need reminding that Jesus gave His all for us and we should always be striving to do our best for Him. Thanks for the reminder.
I’m just passing through so you don’t need to answer in print, but I struggle with knowing how being “Laced with Grace” looks when others fail to me my expectations or break their promises to me. Certainly “I” need to be doing everything that “I” do as though I’m doing it for the Lord. But do I have the right to force that ideal onto others? I hear you. We get the best when we expect the best. And as teacher I want that standard from you. But what does Grace look like for me – from me?
I think this is such an important post Bernadine! Not only should we give our excellence but God knows we aren’t perfect but He can help us become better people in Him.
You know, I think that we should do our best and make our master Teacher smile. The verse you have used today helps me to focus on days when I ‘don’t feel’ like giving me best. The verse reminds me to do things for Him and not fore men…
Thank you so much for reminding us to do our best, to show the world that we are His…
Bernadine…this was a very thought provoking post! I am quite certain that I fail in the area of ALWAYS giving my best…on Saturday my mother was over at the house while a friend and I were making some new window treatments for my bedroom—mother made the comment that we were going to “too much trouble”…but I remember years back when mother went to great lengths to do everything to the utmost! So—I do as well…as often as I possibly can. I know there are many areas though—when I need to really slow down and do a better job on the task at hand!
I really enjoyed this!