Remind me why

Every so often you have a day where you just wonder..."why do I do it?" Why do I do the job I do? The other day I had had a REALLY long day. It started before the sun came up and ended late in the night. I got to work early in the morning, got so busy in the morning that I got no breakfast (because I usually grab a yogurt break right after I teach my first period class). Then, there was a meeting during my lunch break...so I did not eat any lunch. At three I had to leave my last class of the day and jump in the car and drive over to my team's volleyball game, which we lost very badly. To top it all off, we had to stop and feed the girls on the way home from the game, which would not normally be a big deal, except my athletes forget their own names if they are not wearing a name tag, so they had no money so I ended up springing for four meals instead of just mine. By the time I got home, I had pretty much decided I had had it. Then, I unrolled the poster my 8th grade volleyball girls had given me earlier that day. After I finished smiling over that, I read a note that one of my athletes put in my hands after the game. Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the "got to get everything on my checklist done" mentality that we forget we work with real people. In my case, I work with really fragile people...teens. They pretend that they are tough and have it all together, but they are really fragile. Even though I have to write that one kid's name on the top of his paper EVERY time he turns it in because he never does it himself...I am going to keep doing it. Even though I have to tell that one girl to quit swinging her arms at every single volleyball, I am going to be doing it. Even though I have to tell the same kid to turn around and stop talking to so and so every day, I am going to keep doing it. Even though every day I have to remind student "A" where the homework goes when it is completed,I am going to keep doing it. Even though I have to take away a cell phone from the same girl once a week, I am going to keep doing it. Even if I have to keep on parking on a chapter for longer than I planned because that one child still does not have it...then I am going to do it. Teachers cannot afford to forget that our "product" is a person and their learning. Lastly, God tells us that everything we do is to be for HIS honor and glory. What a reminder of why we do what we do.