At school it's not unusual to hear teachers talking about how many years until they can retire.  It seems that no matter what school you work in the conversations are the same.

Fatigue comes quickly working with kids all day long.

I'm one of those teachers that started late.

I stayed at home for over 15 years raising our kids and babysitting friend's children.  Then I got the itch to step out and finish my degree and start a different kind of career.

So, when someone is talking about how many more years they have left in teaching I have a choice of either laughing or crying when I realize that in order for me to retire from teaching I would have to work until I was probably 80.

In order to keep a smile on my face, this is what I have to do.  I teach for a different kind of retirement..

An eternal one.

I may last five years in a classroom.  I may last less or more.  I don't know how many years I truly have left.

But I do know this:

I want to spend eternity in Heaven!

So, I teach like I think Jesus would teach.  I teach with my heart.  Yes, it's exhausting but I'd say hanging on a cross was a lot more painful than doing a lesson plan or dealing with a difficult middle-schooler.

And if I reach a point where I can't teach with my heart, I'm done.

I'm walking out with a smile and getting a job somewhere else, because if I can't treat children the way I want my children treated than I don't deserve to have my name hanging over my door.

I work with a wonderful group of teachers who teach for the same reason I do.  Some of them have been doing this for a long, long time and they deserve to be talking about how many years they have left in teaching.

Eight years of teaching hardly qualifies me for retirement conversations.

So I'll stick with my "forever retirement" plans and keep smiling.

Why?

Because I don't know how many years I might have left on this earth and that's what my heart is set on........

Colossians 3:1-3

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Looking up,