Come in, come in.

I will give thanks to You, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I will sing Your praise. When I called, You answered me; You increased my strength within me. Though the LORD be high, He cares for the lowly; He perceives the haughty from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You keep me safe; The LORD will make good His purpose for me; O LORD, Your love endures forever; do not abandon the works of Your hands. Psalm 138

O holy night!
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name –O Holy Night, Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure, 1867

There is nothing new under the sun.

Words written 150 years ago still pierce in truth.

And for eighty years the neighborhood families of El Hoyo have reenacted the expectant Mary and Joseph seeking lodging,

celebrating the new and glorious morn, God With Us.

 Small children with shiny white shirts and bright blue ties clutch the mic and sing

Sweet hymns of hope.

And while Tucson’s mild version of a winter storm whips rain and rattles loose aluminum roofing by candlelight

A stillness wraps its warmth around my heart.

And in despair I bowed my head

There is no peace on earth I said

For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men

Then rang the bells more loud and deep

God is not dead, nor does He sleep

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth, good will to men. –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1863

Dear Lord Jesus,

Today, once again I ask,

May I recognize You, and invite You in.

The LORD will make good His purpose for me; O LORD, Your love endures for ever; do not abandon the works of Your hands. Psalm 138

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your Name give glory; because of Your love and because of Your faithfulness. Psalm 115:1

Yet the fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds and join in the general dance. -Thomas Merton

So the older I get, the rougher it is to meet my standard of learning all of those kiddos’ names the first day. Part of it is that of course my hippocampus connections are just not as perky as they used to be, but also there is the other problem, that I have filled my brain shelves with so many names and faces and mostly the soul-wrenching images of eyes looking back at me, overflowing shoeboxes of them, so every time I stare Zack in the face, my mouth calls him “Eric,” because of another off-the-charts-clever-boy who also did not like to stay in his seat. So sometimes the little memory trick of association messes with the task at hand.

 And that very first day one of my students had a very convenient name that I was able to immediately associate with her very loud and dramatic and aggressive self. No problem. I never ever forget it. And she is always late. And perhaps a cloud of weedy perfume trails along behind her, because that is the family business, running one of those medical marijuana shops. Except I think it is her foster family business. And she is as smart-as-a-whip but is always dragging not-so-cognizant students down her bunny trails and then they get lost in the woods and never seem to find their way back to the task at hand.

And there I was, just a few feet away from her, because of course she is sitting front and center so I can give her the stern look, shooting her hand way up high so we both know I see it. And really what I want is for everyone to begin working on the dry ice investigation lab procedures. That is what I really wanted to happen when I asked, “Are there any questions?”

And her question could be quite helpful and penetrating. Or it could be a plaintive complaint about the bathrooms being out of order once again. Or the ever popular, “Miss, what are we supposed to do? You never know.

So I called on her.

And she announced in her bullhorn blare, ”You don’t have to do this, do you, Mrs. Voelkel? I mean you could be doing any job in the world; you could do anything. You don’t have to be teaching us do you?

 I just want to tell you that I appreciate that you are making me learn. Thank you.”

So I am packing off to Food City once again this morning. And I have my shopping list for Gatorade and canola oil and rubbing alcohol and Mentos and Sprite and lots and lots of dry ice.

And I have a sheaf of essays that show that the whole idea of citing sources is still as foggy as that mist pouring out of a bubbling graduated cylinder. But I have a whole year of again and again.

But I did dump the backpack of ahem, “Eric” upside down yesterday on a table and shake it several times and then we sorted through every single sheet of paper that literally has been crumpled up in his fist and shoved to the bowels of the bag since the beginning of school. And we pulled out his as-yet-unused brand new plastic folders that his grampa bought him since before the beginning of school and who know how long it will stick.

And "literally" is the word of the year, and I hear it a jillion times a day. 

And Facebook reminded me that this battle is shared in classrooms across the world. Life is not for cowards.

And as I pulled into the parking lot, bright red claws ripped at the sky. Sailors take warning.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your Name give glory.

Amen.

Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

Because you have kept my commandment to persevere, I will keep you safe in the time of trial which is coming for the whole world, to put the people of the world to the test. I am coming soon: hold firmly to what you already have, and let no one take your victor’s crown away from you. Revelation 3:10-11

 When I called, you answered me; You increased my strength within me. The LORD will make good His purpose for me; O LORD, Your love endures forever; do not abandon the works of Your hands. Psalm 138

So last night I after I came home from family dinner during which Everette beguiled all of us with her delighted attachment to Dre’s new two-seater convertible, I graded 63 essays. Over the Thanksgiving break I had the kiddos self-select an autobiography to read and for the final exam they dissected What had made this person’s life worth living?

And so last night I read over and over and over about perseverance, and what it looks like on the football field, in the prisoner of war and concentration camps, with chomped off arms and crushed legs, and through loneliness and rejection and failure. 

It sort of reminds me of Benjamin Franklin’s maxim about the only sure thing in life is death and taxes. Except different. What is true is this: I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.

And the other thing that I read over and over and over was that Love conquers all. And how loving the LORD my God with all my heart, strength and mind looks a lot like loving my neighbor as myself. And somehow I found it very cheering that in the midst of all of these donuts and chocolate milk for homeroom and pizza parties in every class and Secret Santas and White Elephant gifts and yet one more tray of Christmas cookies, that one of my kiddos included in his Christmas in Brazil report for oddly enough Spanish class because it is going to include a little lesson on the similarities and differences of the two Romanic languages, the neighbor thing. The neighbor over there. And his integrative activity was having each of his fellow classmates bring in a small gift for a street kid, and Fernanda sent me her mom’s address this morning and her church is going to distribute them, and somehow all of this is very cheering. Sort of like the winding up of The Christmas Carol that I read out loud to my English class in a darkened candlelit room yesterday too, the joy that comes from considering well this life. And after those ghostly visits Scrooge was a new man who saw life with new eyes.

He went to the church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and for, and patted the children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of homes, and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed of any walk, that anything, could give him so much happiness.

Everything could yield him pleasure.

So be it.