Finding Rock

Student teaching in the first month or at least in the first couple of weeks has not exactly what I thought it would be. In all honesty, I really was not sure what it was going to be. I knew that would I be living by myself at least three hours away from anyone who new me well. I knew that I would be stepping into an established teacher's classroom and learning everything I could. I knew that almost nothing would be familiar to me.

When I first went to K-State, I was in a similar situation. The familiar that I found there was mass, and not just on Sundays, but on weekdays as well. That was my rock - daily mass. Here in the SEK, with a teacher's schedule, daily mass is not exactly an option. Therefore, for the first couple of week's I've found myself without a rock. Not only was I without a rock, but it took and outsider's perspective of my situation to tell me that I didn't have a rock to keep me grounded.

Yesterday, we celebrated the feast of St. Matthew, the apostle. In getting to attend mass (it is not as scarce as I first thought, but it does take a small sacrifice for me to make it there), Fr. Bernie noted the foundation of the Catholic Church, the apostles. No matter the wind or turmoil that comes our way, we have a foundation.

So we, too, personally, should have our foundation, our rock. I am to be firmly grounded as the person God created me to be. However, in the new environment, and the grace of a strong faith, I've struggled to have a rock, someone or someones to hold me accountable to who I am and who God created me to be.

This past weekend, I visited friends in Atchison at Benedictine College. Julie noticed that lack of peace within me. Today, my college professor came to visit and reminded me that I'm not yet being the Jackie he knows I can be. We each have a foundation or a rock in our lives. If we don't recognize it or take advantage of it, we neglect it, and might find ourselves falling off of our foudation. Stay grounded. You might falter a bit from time to time and that's okay. So long as you come back to your foundatoin. Allow those around you to be your rock. God put them in our lives for a reason. Isn't he great? Aww-spiration.