Ready or Not

“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ in God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”‭‭  2 Corinthians‬ ‭3:5-6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We start back to school in two days and people keep asking me, “Are you ready?” The honest answer is “no.” I’m excited about school and looking forward to starting back, but there are many things I was trying to get done this summer that I didn’t finish. I had a goal of focusing on potty training with Evie this summer, but we only made a little progress in that. My classroom is still not fully organized. Since we have been adding new students throughout the summer, I’m not even certain if we have all the curriculum and materials needed for this school year. (It is tricky getting heavy textbooks across the ocean and many of them are supposed to arrive on the day before school starts.) I also still need to print schedules for teachers and students, and work on lesson plans. But while all of these things can feel a bit overwhelming, there is something more that has been weighing on my mind.

It has always been our desire for our school to be a place of grace. A place where students know they are loved and safe and learn to live out the truths of the gospel in their daily lives. We certainly do not do this perfectly and our school is far from utopia, but this is our goal and what we are working toward with our students. We want them to have much more than knowledge when they leave our school. We want them to know Jesus more because of the relationships they have had at our school which demonstrate the love and grace of Jesus Christ. This goal is certainly not something that we can accomplish on our own. It feels overwhelming to try to create that type of school atmosphere, particularly when one third of our students will be new to our school. There will be new social dynamics, everyone trying to figure out where they fit, and all of this with kids who have experienced much more transition and sometimes trauma than the typical American kid. It is exciting to be able to love on and disciple these kids, but the task is definitely bigger than me.

This week the sermon in our church was on the passage above. I am not sufficient to the task of these upcoming challenges, but my "sufficiency is from God, who has made me us to be ministers of a new covenant." He made us teachers to be ministers to these students and He is sufficient to the task! One of my favorite worship songs that I learned many years ago is "He is Able."

He is able, more than able, to accomplish what concerns me today.
He is able, more than able, to handle anything that comes my way.
He is able more than able, to do much more than I could ever dream.
He is able, more than able to make me what he wants me to be.

So today, as I see how I am not sufficient, I am going to remember that Christ in me is sufficient and He will accomplish His good purposes for today. So even if I am not "ready," God is and He will give us the strength and grace to do all He has called me to do today. He will do much more than we could ask or image. (Eph. 3:20)