My daughter, Allison, just started her first year in middle school. Here in Stafford, kindergarten through seniors are all in one school, so thankfully she doesn't have to start off in a new building. However, she does have a couple of classes over in the high school hallways, so before school started we walked around and confirmed where each classroom was located. This is important, of course, because nobody wants to get lost in school. It is a dreadful, horrendous, flustering, tormenting, shameful, atrocious, discombobulating, and down right embarrassing experience. One would have nightmares about being lost for the rest of their lives after going astray in the halls of a new school.
Does it sound like I am speaking from personal experience? You bet!
My first embarrassing moment occurred because of my freshmen inability to read a schedule. I knew I had choir; I was very proud that I had found the choir room and the bell had not even rung yet. But when I realized the small class was full of juniors and seniors, I knew I had made a mistake. Yep. Wrong time. I definitely did not qualify for the honors choir.
Okay. So that wasn't dreadful or horrendous. The teacher gave me directions. The upperclassmen snickered a little bit, but I didn't really know any of them so I didn't care all that much. After that, I was able to find all my classes on time and things were looking good.
Then came Mr. Crane. Okay, so it wasn't really Mr. Crane's fault. He just asked me to do a quick errand for him at the beginning of science class one day. "Theresa, please take the attendance slip to the attendance office." No problem, I thought. I grabbed the slip and went out into the hall. I looked right and I looked left. Which way should I go? I had no idea where the attendance office was, so I took off to the left and searched the lower level of the building and could not find it. I knew the main office was on the upper level, so I went up there and searched some more. Frustrated, I slowly walked past the main office looking at all the doors for the sign "Attendance Office" with no luck. Continuing slowly down the hall with the slip still on my hand, I must have been a sad sight. I didn't know where else to look and I was irked with myself.
Mrs. Lyle, the very kind librarian, noticed me wandering the halls like a vagabond and asked me if she could help me find my class. "Oh," I told her, "I know where my class is. The thing is I'm looking for the attendance office and I've looked everywhere and I just can't find it." Mrs. Lyle gently told me, "Go down these stairs, turn right and go down to the end of the hall. If you get to the commons, you've gone too far. The attendance office is on the left hand side right across from Mr. Crane's science room."
Yep. You read correctly. Right across from Mr. Crane's room. I don't mind telling you that I felt like a complete idiot. I had just spent ten or fifteen minutes roaming around this vast high school when all I had to do was take five steps across the hall.
So, I went down the stairs, turned right, walked down the hall, looked to my left and there right before my eyes was a professional, very easy to read sign clearly stating "Attendance Office." I delivered the slip and returned to class.
Class was is full session with Mr. Crane before the class imparting his knowledge of physical science to a room full of uninterested freshmen. I slunk back to my seat and started taking notes. Needless to say, Mr. Crane never asked me to run an errand for him again and I don't think he ever felt very highly of me. And who can blame him?
Why didn't I just look up and pay attention to what was around me? Seriously, all I had to do was open my eyes and look at what was right in front of my face. Instead, I looked right, I looked left, I wandered around and around and up and down. I never asked for directions. I never asked for help. Thinking back, I had a map of the school and if I had just spent a few minutes studying it, I would have known the exact location of the attendance office.
This reminds me of a story Jesus told in Matthew 22. A king prepared a wedding banquet for his son and sent out personal invitations to his guests to come and enjoy. The guests, though invited three times, "paid no attention and went off - one to his field, another to his business." I don't want to ignore the invitation. I don't want to miss the feast. I don't want to be off in the field or sitting on my computer when I could be enjoying what the Lord has prepared for me.
7 But I, by your great mercy,
will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down
toward your holy temple.
8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
because of my enemies—
make straight your way before me.
Psalm 5:7-9
The Bible mentions "paying attention" 79 times. Sometimes God is telling us to pay attention to Him and to his Word. Other times, God warns us what will happen when we don't heed his Word.
I have a wonderful friend from college, Christina. Many months or even years can pass in between visits, but Christina also asks me the same thought-provoking question when I see her. "What is God teaching you?" If I know I'm going to see or talk to Christina, I send some time thinking about what God is doing in my life and what He is trying to get through to my thick scull and sometimes hardened heart. It is a good question to ask yourself, too, because God is working in your life and He is trying to teach you something. Have you been spending time in the Bible? Have you been paying attention to what is going on around you to see his work?
We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Hebrews 2:1
It is easy to get lost in this big, scary world we live in. Please know that we are praying for you. We pray that you will continue to pay attention and allow God to form you into his image. Pay attention to the work he is doing through you and around you. God bless you and your school year.
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