Day 3 of school is in the books at WCS! We start earlier than the public schools but I am always ready to come back! Plus, our breaks are a little longer during the year so it evens out. Starting over often means breaking in a new teacher's aide for me. I have been blessed over the years with amazing young ladies who help me one period a day by taking care of everything I don't have time for. Several of my aides have been with me multiple years- Hanna, Chelsey, Megan- but most only do it their senior year. My aide this year is Mi which is pronounced like the English pronoun, Me. Mi is a senior who was born in Vietnam but who has lived most of her life in Japan. She has been at Westbury Christian for four years and I also taught her older sister, Anh. Mi is the kind of person you immediately like. Smart, bubbly, engaged in every school activity she can involve herself in, that's Mi. She has big shoes to fill! My aide last year was the legendary Minna Wong, the reigning Miss WCS. I have really been fortunate!
If you follow me regularly, you know that my wardrobe choices have evolved over the years, due in part to a four year old named Margaret and my sister-in-law, Sally. Two years ago, one of my students named Jean began picking out what I would wear the next day in an attempt to make me presentable. Minna took over the responsibility last year and often agonized for ten minutes before making her coordinating decision. The duty has fallen to Mi this year, and she, as a fashionable young lady, is well-equipped for the job. My routine is to bring about ten shirts and five pairs of pants at a time along with about 50 of my 260 ties. I have a chart for shoes and belts as well although I brought up three pairs of brown shoes and about ten pairs of brown sock as a preemptive strike. I was complimented today on what she picked for me to wear last Friday- off to a good start! Mi walked into my room this afternoon eighth period, the time she is assigned to me, and immediately selected my look for tomorrow. Then, in her first full day of being an aide, she ran errands and alphabetized our memory verses. She will be awesome!
When Jean and Minna picked my clothes out, I told them the same thing:
"I will wear whatever you tell me to." Now, you may think all of this is silly but it makes sense on so many levels. First, I look much better! Secondly, and maybe more importantly, it makes me keep ahead of my laundry and takes the burden of what to wear off of my shoulders. I repeated the "I will wear whatever you tell me to" line to Mi last week. I have told all of the three girls that I trust their fashion sense and so truthfully, they have me wear what they like and not necessarily what I like. Yet, I have never questioned it until today.
At the end of school, I got around to seeing what Mi had laid out for me for tomorrow. it was a white Jos A Bank oxford shirt with black Jos A Bank pants, tied together with yellow and blue Jerry Garcia neck wear. Terrific! But then I noticed she had put a brown belt and brown Chaps shoes (as shown above) with brown socks with the outfit and without getting dramatic, I about froze. You see, I have taken a non-binding vow in my heart to never wear brown shoes with navy or black pants, thus the dilemma. On the one hand, I am less than crazy about that combination. On the other hand, I made a vow to Mi that I trust her judgement and will accept her conclusions. There was no doubt- I will be wearing brown shoes and black pants on Tuesday, August 18, 2015. Who knows, I may be bombarded with compliments....and we all like those!
You may wonder why I am writing this at all. The fact is that it really has bothered me. I am greatly honored that Mi and those before her, like Nancy and Samaria and Karla and Betsy and Kelly and Viri and Gloria, etc chose to spend an hour a day blessing my life and those of my students. They have made my life so much simpler. But I can't give Mi that authority to choose my clothes and then just snatch it away from her. In Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes this accusatory statement to the crowd:
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?"
The implication is clear- if Jesus is truly our Lord, we will do what He say with no questions asked. That's what Lord means, the One who commands our life. The calling of His name is easier than the living by His teachings. I've got the first part down but I struggle with the second. I pray I'm making progress, brown shoes and all. And you can thank Mi!
Applicable quote of the day:
Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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