Category: Blog
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The Pendulum
When expectations are not met, hopes are deferred, or patience wears thin, we tend to gravitate to doing the exact opposite and using absolutes to help cope with the situation. We might say to ourselves, “I will never ______,” or “I will stop hoping that ______ will ______.” We try…
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Hidden Conviction of a Seven-Year-Old
While sitting next to one of my students, she brought her eyes towards me and shared, “Well, that was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be…” I responded with, “What was?” “Forgiving him. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be,”…
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Prayer Requests from a Teacher
Another school year is on the horizon for me this week. A new crew of 2nd graders will be walking into my classroom. Some will be hesitant, shy, paralyzed with nerves, and eager to say absolutely nothing but just try to make it through the day unscathed. Others will burst…
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Excellence Over Perfection
Last week, I said adios to summer and stepped back onto my elementary campus for the start of teacher professional development. At the beginning, our Principal directed us to greet one another, and I met one of my new co-workers. It is her first year teaching, and it was refreshing…
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A Heart Aflame
There is much noise in Christianity today on what to do to love God more. There are different “practices” or “disciplines” that pastors and influencers have inundated Christians with. So much noise that it is challenging for Christians to decipher what is helpful. The more options given, the faster it…
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In a Cage
Crashing. Clanging. Charging.Out, I want out.Change.My soul’s desire.Stuck in the cyclical cycle of the mundane.Knocking…no answer.Trying… results, none that my sight can see.Pleading…only hollow echoes.Dissatisfaction and discontentment lurking around the corner.Oh God, change my circumstances.Quiet, near silence.Ripples of tears steadily stream down. To His word I lean as my reprieve.Consolation…
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Pray Together
It made me pause. Not the silence nor the quiet, but the low rumble that rippled across the sanctuary. The tender, faint whisper of others praying out loud together over the prayer requests made known to us that morning by our Pastor. Every week at Church, we stop after singing…
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Who Hindered You?
“What is that to you? You, follow me!” -John 21:22 I can hear Jesus’ correction, “Stop looking at what other people are doing, comparing yourself to them. Return to me, and keep your gaze steady on me.” When I have become lazy, more slothful, and lax in my pursuit of…
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Not Worth It
While my neighbors, who are more like family, were away, they asked me to collect the ripe figs off their tree. As I was gathering them, I taste-tested a couple just to make sure they were all good (great post-run snack if you ask me). One was a little sour,…
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One Year. One Verse. One Thought.
One year ago, I started this blogging endeavor. I would think about something that stuck out to me, put it into words, and then post it. Seems simple. Nothing too rigorous, but something that I truly have enjoyed getting to do. As I reflect on this past year, one verse…
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A Church Who Weeps Together
You hear through the news about the devastating events that happen all over the world. Where suffering is thrown violently into the mix of the mundane. Churches being persecuted and believers suffering together. You see it in videos, pictures, but what happens when it strikes your own local Church? Pain…
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Jesus Through the Suffering
The text or call comes in unexpectedly. Your heart, which was just seconds ago weightless, relentlessly tugs you down. There is no absorption for the shock, just the fatal blow. Suffering. It has a beginning that leaves a scar that has the capability of slowing time in its place and…
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Insignificant Gifts
“Here you go, Ms.Whisman.” It was the last day of school, and my students were lining up to depart for their summer break. One student stopped me before I gave them their goodbye hug, and offered me a mini plastic turtle. I responded gently with, “What is this for?” Quietly,…
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To the Single Lady at the Wedding
A soft and discreet whisper of a lie crept in, “You are missing out.” It seemed so faint, but soon it was blaring throughout my thoughts. One of my best friends recently got married. Attending a wedding as a single in the later part of your 20s hits differently than…
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Read Books To Kids
This week concludes another school year for me. It feels like yesterday that I started with a fresh new bunch of students. Yet, here I am as I pack up my classroom for the summer. As I think back through this school year, I would love to share one reflection…
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Thankful for Sarah
Sarah was given a promise. She was left waiting and probably thinking, “…Maybe it will happen this year?” Silence responded with “no.” She was called to endure when nothing was changing before her eyes. Her true character was being revealed and refined. Years passed by… Finally, Sarah saw and she…
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Calming the Classroom
The rain began battering against the classroom windows. Lights flickered here and there. Gusts of wind brought in a wicked storm that my students had a front row seat to watch. Tension was building in the classroom as the minutes ticked by without an end in sight to the storm.…
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The End of a Season
I pass a countdown every day in the hallway of my school that reminds me of the remaining days left until summer. When around others, the leading question I get asked is, “How many more days until summer?” Genuinely, I do look forward to this upcoming break. It is a…
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Turn In Your Bible To…
My brother stood at the front of the stage looking onto his middle school students at youth group and said, “Turn in your Bible to….” If I am honest, I expected him to continue with the all too familiar way to finish this statement with, “or open your app to…,”…
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Just a Little Bit
During recess, one of my students ran up to me and reported that another student cut the corner while walking their laps at recess. Once I saw this student, I called her over, and when she arrived, I calmly asked her, “When you were walking laps earlier, did you cut…
Rachel Whisman 