Unexpected Blessings

Today, class (or dive) #4 went about the same as last week. My throat was hurting beforehand, but it didn't cause me any trouble. My material covered the allotted time. I caught myself saying "um" about a dozen times, but other than that nothing negative to report.

The best part about today was that when I returned their papers, which I had laboriously poured over, they actually thanked me. I don't think I've once thanked a teacher, professor, or my boss for marking up my work. Have I looked at the markings? Absolutely. I study them to see how I can improve. But for two students to come up and thank me after class for my comments on their papers, I was speechless. Unexpected blessing #1 from teaching = being thanked for marking up their hard work.

Rewind to Sunday evening.

I caught myself staring at the green-eyed monster a/k/a envy. I had just scanned the devotional that our church put together for our study of Romans. Many of my friends wrote the devotionals that appear in the spiral-bound daily devotional study guide. I had the opportunity to submit a devotional but had to turn it down due to class prep. That same night, the deadline passed for me to submit a devotional or article for the writing contest being held in conjunction with the North Texas Christian Writers' Conference that I'm headed to this weekend. Again, class prep made me forego that opportunity. As I pondered why I felt the way I did, I realized that I don't like the fact that teaching has limited the time I have available to write. Sure, I could try to forego sleep in order to write, but that wouldn't last very long in this sleep-powered body. So unexpected blessing #2 = figuring out how much I enjoy writing and how much I can't wait to get back to it when class is over.