I Believe In You

Kindergarteners can be space aliens. Sometimes, I look at them wandering around the room, being super silly, completely happy not doing anything I ask, and I think, “I really hope no one comes into this classroom right now because it looks like I have no control over my classroom.” And, well, sometimes it feels as if I don’t.

That happened this afternoon. As the little aliens pushed all my buttons, I took one deep breath after another, trying everything I knew to do to remain calm and teach proper behavior…until…I exploded. And the true irony of it all? I was trying to teach the students about peace while standing in front of them far from peaceful.

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Earlier today, a student made and gave me a drawing. It says my name and includes the phrase, “I believe in you,” along with the words hope, love, and light. I imagine that he was taking a cue from a piece of art that I have hanging above my desk, but still…I love his drawing…and I want to believe that when he comes to music class, he feels hope, love, and light, and that I believe in him.
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I’ve been teaching about MLK, Jr. in preparation for the holiday that’s coming on Monday. At the end of his famous “I Have A Dream” speech, MLK referenced the song, “Free At Last.” He said, “…we will speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands in singing the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, I’m free at last.” Then he figuratively dropped the mic and walked off stage. Five years later, his tombstone was carved with those same words: Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, I’m free at last.

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Friends: There will be times in our lives when we get it right—when we speak words that will be remembered for all of eternity or act in ways that we’re everything we’ve ever wanted to be. But then there will be times when Kindergarten space aliens cross our paths and we can only pray that no one walks in to witness the cacophony.

That’s how life is. It is up and down, push and pull, failure and forgiveness, positive and negative, give and take.

Yet through it all, God is there, offering true peace—extending hope, love, and light—gently whispering, “I believe in you.”

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Amen.