Achievement testing week. Senior trip week. Week before spring break. Snow day on Monday (yes, in April). Covering classes for teachers that are absent. Year long projects coming due. Many things to finish in our classes. Limited number of weeks to complete those things. Kids that needed spring break three weeks ago. Teachers that needed spring break 8 weeks ago.

Today is only Tuesday. Today alone has felt like it has been at least a week long. Welcome to crunch season.

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Today has led me to give much consideration to my teaching boundaries and how well I have been holding to those boundaries.

Like all areas of life, I feel it is very important that we determine what God has called us to do/be and that we protect that calling. For me, that protection comes in the form of boundaries. Boundaries that protect my time. Boundaries that protect my family. Boundaries that protect my effectiveness. Boundaries that keep me on track.

“Crunch season” for a teacher tests these boundaries. This testing comes mostly because we start to have less and less control over our time, our energy and our classrooms. We start to feel pressure to meet certain goals. We start to realize that we are running out of time. We face daily the “unexpected” change of plans.

As today’s never-ending Tuesday played out before me, I started to feel my boundaries slip. I started to lose the calm that typically lives in my teaching world. Frustration tried to creep in as my “planner” personality met face to face the “non-planners” in my life. Tears pushed toward my eyes as “one more thing” showed up in my schedule and told me that I was not successful in the boundaries I had set.

Today, I had to remind myself that even in this crunch of my teaching life, God still uses those moments. I told myself again that my students learn even when the schedule feels out of control. I repeated to myself that God will be who I need for each moment. He will provide the grace I need for each change of plans. He will bless each time I adjust to the change brought into my day.

Love on your teacher friends today. Encourage them as they push through the crunch. Thank them for facing each daily challenge with love. Remind them that they are amazing.