Sufficient Grace and Tennis Balls

I’ve been wearing my rain gear for car duty this week. I realize that I look somewhat ridiculous in rain boots and a rain coat but I want to be properly dressed and prepared. Rain is something I can prepare for. Violence is not.

Don’t worry. I’ve not had a violent encounter this week. But I have had the realization that if someone were to get angry at car duty then there would be nowhere to hide. We are quite vulnerable standing in that parking lot. What’s more. I told my parents last night that if someone were to open fire at car duty then they’d be hearing my name on the news for being a teacher who sacrificed her life for her students. In a brief moment of clarity yesterday, I realized that I wouldn’t hesitate to throw myself over my students to save them…I’d probably just crush them in the process.

I also told my class of 5thgraders yesterday that they’d be hard pressed to find someone who cares for them much more than I. I inwardly chuckled as I watched them think aloud and come to the conclusion that I was right.

I have a problem with caring. I care a whole lot.

…

In other news, my devotion this morning confessed:“Gracious Lord Jesus, Master of things great and small, I need to talk to you about how often I sweat the small stuff. I pray about the big challenges and receive your guidance and power. Then little annoyances blow my cool and I get suited up with your full armor only to fight little skirmishes over trifles. It’s good to know that your grace is sufficient for all things.”

And for what was God’s grace sufficient today? Tennis balls.

I’ve been trying to get tennis balls on the bottoms of my chairs since school began. I need them to help minimize noise. I got most of the chairs covered a couple of weeks ago, but I ran out of tennis balls. I bought more balls on Tuesday evening and began cutting them for the chairs today. After covering the legs of three chairs, I looked around the room to see how many more balls I needed to cut. It was in that moment that I realized that two more tennis balls had been taken from the bottom of my chairs. The total number of stolen, sliced open tennis balls is now four.

For the next few moments, I was irrationally angry. I was angry at my students, their parents, television and the media, big corporations, the church, government, and myself. I was angry that someone had taken my tennis balls. I was confused as to why they wanted busted-open balls. I was mad at the thought that my students were taking the tennis balls just to see if they could get away with it—because they think that breaking the rules and stealing is fun. I was furious that I’d let them get away with it. How in the world could a kid take a tennis ball off of the bottom of a chair without me noticing? I was sad at the thought that my students could want a tennis ball so badly that they must steal a busted one. I was in quite a mood.

Then I remembered my devotion from this morning and realized, quite quickly, that the tennis balls were “small things” and “little annoyances.” So I confessed my frustration to God and a friend. Asked for forgiveness. Took a few deep breaths. Said a few prayers for my students. Focused on picking up 75 pizzas for Parent Involvement Night at school. And let my mood dissipate.

It certainly is good to know that God’s grace is sufficient for all things…and that I bought extra tennis balls.