I have to admit that my commitment to blogging isn’t consistent. It’s the case of I have really want to write thoughts about my journey, but I just don’t. So, when I wake up one morning with some burning thoughts, I better act on the opportunity by writing them down. Commitment!

Summer allows time for meditation and reflection. Although, this summer was busier than those years of attending graduate school, preparing for the next year of teaching/leading, and trying to remember to take a vacation. this year proved to be most challenging. There was no space this year. One school year ended and the other one encroached on space and time of summer. Public education is a busy business. To that end I began to reflect on why I do what I do, which is to lead and educate in the public school system.

The commitment to show up in life and at work can be framed in response to 3 questions posed by Max Lucado in a daily reading resource entitled Grace for the Moment: What do you love to do? What brings you joy? What gives you a sense of satisfaction?

What do I love to do? I love people and the idiosyncrasies we bring to relationships, our work, and the community. I love to garden — to get my hands in the dirt and muck around with roots which eventually produce fruit or flowers. I love to swing. Really, the most peaceful setting I know is swinging on the patio swing and singing, gazing at the perennial garden at my feet, and enjoying the entertainment finches, cardinals, doves, wrens, and sparrows provide as they compete for a place at the bird feeder table. I really love a good book that forces me to turn pages and finish, while it inspires or challenges my thinking. I really love being a grandmother! Words just aren’t needed — enough said! And I really love walking into the world of public education each day.

What brings you joy? Besides everything I love, finding my way through this maze we call life brings me joy. Keats alludes to how we experience joy in Ode to Melancholy when he explores the challenges each of us faces when experiencing sadness, failure, defeat, exasperation, frustration, confusion, pure hurt and all of those other emotions that drag us down. He suggests that melancholy is overcome by finding joy and unless we have tasted the bitter juice of those feelings that drag us down, we cannot know the sweet taste of joy. Well…I think I just found a reason to celebrate! What brings me joy as a public educator? People bring me joy: kids who walk through our doors each day — literal untapped potential I Was Herewaiting to discover and be discovered; teachers, principals, administrators, volunteers, and educational support personnel who get up each day knowing they are facing the challenge of (cliche’ as it seems) making a difference in the life of someone else — fulfilling a personal mission in tandem with their work toward meeting the Mission of public education. What can bring more joy than that? Mission is a powerful, driving force that cannot be dissuaded by the likes of pointing fingers from critics, high-stakes test scores that don’t meet an arbitrary mark, lack of appreciation from society as a whole, and the feeling that another day goes by for a student (child, youth, or adult) and when they leave that day from our halls, the reality of their life hits them square in the face. And then…the next day, we begin again! What greater joy is there than living out your Mission?

What gives you a sense of satisfaction? Learning and watching others learn brings a smile to my face and contentment to my heart. I noted above that grandmothering is what I love to do! Our 4-month-old granddaughter is an expert at mimicking sounds and facial expressions. Recently, she learned to mimic her big brother’s fake cry. Not only did she mimic the sound but sight unseen, knew to pucker up, turn those little lips down, and belt out a heart-felt cry…that is until he stopped and looked at her…and then she stopped too. Think about what was learned in that minute or so: she learned empathy (value), mimicking (which admittedly we use our whole life), decision-making (to engage or not to engage), performance (because she kept looking at the camera without emotion between cries), and a host of other skills we use each day. It was all a learning experience. Likewise, as I talk with kids, parents, teachers, principals, community members, other administrators, and anyone else who has a vested interest in our work as public educators, I am quite satisfied as I, along with them, figure out next steps so that we maximize the moments in our days. It gives me satisfaction to be counted among those who are driven to respond to the need at hand; to empathize, to share our thinking and respond (because we are part of a team working together with the same mission), to make tough decisions (that are judged as both right and wrong by critics), to learn together, and to leave knowing we effected change for the better in the lives of individuals and our community. Learning from a four-month-old gives me a sense of satisfaction.

So where does this all end … or begin since school starts soon? It begins and ends in commitment to something that we love, that brings us joy, and that gives us a sense of satisfaction that we were here. Lady Antebellum’s I Was Here says it best:  And I know that I, I will do more than just pass through this life. I’ll leave nothing less than something that says “I was here.”

Commitment: Show up!