Seeking Happiness and Joy

I just finished my student teaching in a fifth grade class on Friday. It was an amazing experience full of highs and lows. One of the highlights occurred toward the end. I had been asked to cover lunch playground duty for an entire week. The students are on a staggered lunch schedule. The fifth graders go first and the kindgergartners don't finish their recess until 30 minutes after the fifth graders have gone inside. My mentor teacher and I worked out a plan so that she would teach while I was still outside. On the very last day of the week, I noticed the students were still outside 10 minutes after their bell had rung. I let them in the classroom on my way out front to watch the kindergartners. I didn't know what to do. I was obligated to tend to the kindergartners. Their playground is in the front of the school with the greatest potential for harm. I couldn't be late, but I didn't want to leave my class unattended. I considered asking a teacher across th

Against all odds and with none to help or uphold Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the living son of the living God, restored physical life where death had held sway, and brought joyful, spiritual redemption out of sin and hellish darkness and despair. One of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone we do not have to do so.