Only time will tell.

God amazes me sometimes (well, OK, maybe more than sometimes…). Today I was amazed because I sort of stepped away from myself this morning while I was teaching at the workshop and I felt like I was listening to myself teach. And you know, at the risk of sounding boastful, I was doing pretty good! But I know that’s only because God has given be the ability to do this sort of thing. It is not something that comes naturally from my personality, or some skill that I have carefully practiced and honed – no, it’s a gift from God. And what a privilege it is to be able to use the teaching gift that he’s given me to help further his kingdom… and have fun doing it at the same time :)

But really, if you had known me, say, 5 years ago, I don’t think you would recognize me to be the same person. I was terrified of standing in front of 3 people and speaking, let alone a room full of 30 people! And now, I’m jumping at the chance to stand up and teach something. I love being given “the stage” so I can help people learn something that’s going to help them develop their own skills and do something to help their communities. I just see it as an amazing privilege to facilitate people’s “Aha moments” (to steal a quote from Oprah!). This whole week, I’ve been privileged to see people’s eyes being opened to language and translation issues so they can convey important information to their own communities in a way that the people will actually understand it! I just love watching people get it! Even though I’m so tired at the end of the day of teaching, I’m still so energized and encouraged by seeing these folks that I’ve just met learning and enjoying the whole process of it.

And now it’s time to go eat… Teaching requires a lot of energy which needs to be replenished on a regular basis as well. I wonder if I was teaching every day, like a normal school teacher does, would it get old or boring, or would I still love every day of it? Or do I just love each day of it because it’s a novelty every time I teach a new workshop? I guess only time will tell :)