Having worked in the field of education for more than 30 years, I was sure that I’d seen and heard it all, but I really never cease to be amazed.
I am amazed by the fashions of the students and the adults, like the guidance counselor who came to work with her shirt tied Daisy Duke style because she’d gotten her navel pierced the evening before and wanted to show it off…to elementary students!
I am amazed by the excuses for not doing homework and for coming to work late, like the teacher who said she woke up and decide to try a new route and got lost on the way.
I am amazed by the behaviors, like the teacher who thought a student might have intentionally clogged a toilet with paper too much tissue, so she gave her a paper towel and told her to use it to take all that excess soggy tissue out of the toilet. This one also falls under the category of amazing thinking – a paper towel to keep her hands clean while she took tissue from a nasty, recently used toilet? Hmm.
Fortunately, not all of the things that amaze me are negative. Daily I am amazed by the glory of nature – the beauty of the clouds, the majesty of the trees, the melody of the birds. In the Psalms David declared, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” (Psalm 19:1-3). Nature alone is proof that He is and that He is great!
I cannot share these amazements, good and bad, without acknowledging that sometimes I have been amazed by my own thinking and my own behavior and surely I confess, it was not always good. Some of it was selfish. Some of it was vengeful. Some of it hurt others. I am especially sorry about that and this, perhaps, is why I am most amazed by God and His grace, His mercy and His love for us even when we falter.
As Deuteronomy tells us, He is “God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God” (Deuteronomy 10:17 ESV). Sometimes we forget that or, at the very least, we take it for granted. The Desperation Band sings, “You dance over me while I am unaware. You sing all around, but I never hear the sound. Lord, I’m amazed by you – how you love me! How wide, how deep, how great is your love for me! Lord, I’m amazed by you – how you love me!”
He formed light; He created darkness (Isaiah 45:7, ESV); He made “heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and” He preserves all of them (Nehemiah 9:6, ESV). He is “the Rock, His work is perfect, all His ways are justice.” He is “a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright” (Deuteronomy 32:4, ESV) and yet, He loves us. He loves us. So much so that He pursues us! As long as we live in this sinful and fallen world we will sin – even those of us who are believers (though Jesus paid our sin debt), and we may still have to deal with the consequence of sin. He knows the pain of sin, so He teaches us and shows us His way, a better way, the way that He desires for us. He pursues us. He never lets go of us. He loves us! He is amazing, and I am amazed!
FULLY ALIVE! 