Rachel Whisman

Two more precious weeks are all I have left of summer. It seemed like yesterday it was just starting, but now the school year is just around the corner. Crazy me, but I went back into my classroom to get some things situated so I could then escape for the rest of the summer and be ready when August arrived. As I walked into my classroom, the phrase “Remember your why” kept nudging its way in. Years ago, whenever I started teaching, that was the mantra of the year for teachers: “Remember your why,” as if identifying it would be the key to your success. It would be the fuel when you were burnt out and the reservoir for your discontentment. Some coworkers shared their “why.” Their answers were their family, friends, themselves, or being that someone for someone who wasn’t there for them. Thinking through them, a lot of them were altruistic reasons. My mind, though, kept thinking, “I don’t think that’s going to be enough.” 

Setting things on my teacher’s desk, the jaded memory of this past year quietly settled in. Looking around the room, it was not arranged yet. The floors were pristinely waxed, desks were sort of in place, and the room was ready for a fresh start, but was my heart? “Remember your why” bounced up again. Thinking back, when I first heard this phrase, no one ever answered Jesus. I would think, “Is it because it’s too trite?” Is it due to fear or something deeper and more revealing? Is it our lack of fidelity and love for our Savior? 

In Christ, our answers are the same to the question, “What is your why?” God’s word spurs us to this reality: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for man,” and “So whether we are away or at home, we make it our aim to please him.” (Col. 3:23, 2 Cor. 5:9). Our why is the Lord. We do our work ultimately for Him and not the approval of ourselves or others. He is not a weak answer to this but the sustainer of it. He is to be our remembrance when our fumes are shot with our colleagues or children, and knowing we listen and help them because Christ did so for us. In the joyous and exhilarating days and in the dull and muted hours of life, he is your why. 

After working in my classroom for some time, I collect my belongings and head out the door. I don’t know what this year will hold. Will it be a crazy rollercoaster like last year? I sure hope not, but even if it does, the reason why I do the job he has given me has taken root even more deeply. 

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14