Seeing His Signs

 I have been frustrated with my students lately...actually...I've been frustrated with my students for what is becoming a seriously long time now.  I don't like feeling this way because it affects my teaching and my rapport with them. But...o boy...it is getting harder and harder to relate to them and to be patient.  They live in a world that I just do not understand.  Their struggles were not my struggles when I was their age.  Their delights were not my delights either.  I have a really hard time trying to figure out what they want.  I have no clue how to engage them.  I feel defeated most of the time...thinking that they either hate me or think so little of me that hating me would take too much effort...effort that they don't want to invest in me or in anything I have to say, so they just ignore me.  If they feel anything is probably indifference.

Sigh...

I'm not the only educator around me who feels this way.  I was talking to one of my colleagues today and I said, "boy, professors need to have like a support group so we can help each other figure out how to survive!"

Anyway, my point is, work is making my days pretty dull and rather miserable.  Maybe I'm just too old to do this.  I probably should retire soon.  I don't want to feel this way, though.  I don't want to just "survive" my days.  I love my profession.  I spent a lot of years going around in circles professionally until I found something I truly enjoyed.  So I want to have a better attitude, but I need help.  And I'm afraid the help I really need is not going to come from a professors' support group that is going to do nothing but feed my own grudges and frustrations with the kindle that they will add to the already hot fire burning in me.

What I need is perspective.  What I need is the Holy Spirit's help.

Today's devotional said:  "Signs of My Presence brighten even the dullest day when you have eyes that really see.  Search for Me as for hidden treasure.  I will be found by you."  (Jesus Calling by Sarah Young).

The biblical reference is Jeremiah 29: 13-14a,

13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,”

What a great promise by Our Almighty God! If we seek Him with all our heart, we WILL find Him.  Alleluia!  Now, let's get busy seeking Him.  And where do we find Him?  Well, all around!  Signs of His presence are everywhere, if we look with eyes that are focused and intentionally set on finding Him.  His presence is in nature, in the people He places around us, in our thoughts, in Scripture.  His presence is in the things, people and events that we encounter on a daily basis.  If we pay attention, we will see His Hand in everything.  The problem is, often, we are too distracted.  At least I am.  Today, for instance, I actually had a couple of students saying really kind things to me and expressing their gratitude for being accommodating to their needs.  When that happened, I didn't think anything of it and I continued with my usual grumpiness...until now...

My eyes weren't seeking to really see the wonders of Our Lord and how He lifts us up.  His gifts and signs are lost because we refuse to have a perspective of love. It wasn't until He reminded me through the devotional, that He places signs of His Presence along the paths of our days to brighten our existence, that I was able to look back and realize I did have precious instances of those signs today.

I pray that the Holy Spirit allows me to be more aware and to be more intentional about my seeing so I stop missing the fulfillment of His promises in my life.  In the Precious Name of the One Who Is Found by Us when we Seek Him with all our hearts.  Amen!