Most of my career, I have had this sense of urgency to pour belief into others (students, parents, staff) until they finally believe in it themselves. The young lady who had never once passed a STAAR (state mandated) test, but I knew she could do it; I poured and poured and poured belief into her until she believed it and passed it for the first time in 9th grade. The young man that had such excellence inside him but was wrought with a family life that was unstable; I poured belief, and love, and hugs, and told him how proud of him I was at every step until he became proud of himself and believed he could break generational curses. Thousands of students have crossed my educational path in my career and there are so many stories. There have been parents at their wits' end with the teenage nonsense that does get better but feels like it will last forever. There have been colleagues that just felt like they were not making a difference and wanted to give up. There have been times when I have had to fight through stress, being completely exhausted, overwhelmed, and beaten down, and I have wanted to give up. But God keeps calling me back to this mission field. God keeps restoring my belief and my resolve to pour that belief into others.
I wish I could say that every story and every connection ended like these, but we all know that is not true. People give up. People sometimes don't believe; not in you' not in themselves. People can also be cruel and work against you for their own selfish reasons. However, the one thing I think that sabotages greatness more than anything else is the acceptance of what is in the moment; the lack of hoping or believing that anything greater even exists. We tend to look around and get comfortable with what is already there. And don't get me wrong, it is probably good, and at one time maybe even great. But we let it sit there and collect dust and cobwebs and say, " look what we have, when in fact it really is what we had and the shine is wearing thin, the excitement is fading, and the belief in greatness is dwindling.
What is great in a moment is not necessarily what is great in the next moment. True greatness and excellence comes from continuing the pursuit, continuing the dream, continuing reaching for more, improving ourselves, and pouring belief into others. We must dust off the old and carry the torch into the dusty rooms to see the greatness.
Currently, I am in a small district at the helm of a middle school campus that I dearly love. It is full of some of the most amazing kids you have ever met and they are hungry for greatness. It has a staff that wants to pour belief and love and hope into kids daily. We are not wealthy, but greatness is here. Excellence is here. Pride is here. Most of the families of our students are also hungry for greatness and excellence, but they've been through a lot and are nervous about the future.
There are a lot of people in our community that have settled for the greatness of old and have stopped believing that new excellence or greatness is even an option. Our kids are so amazing. They want excellence, but they do not have any idea what that even means. We (educators, administrators, parents, students) are working hard to bring that desire and that drive to our campus and to our district. Sometimes it feels like we are crawling through a very dark, scary tunnel, with spiders, and cobwebs, and people behind us telling us not to go there, but we know the light of greatness and excellence is just ahead, just under the dust if we are brave enough to push through.
While I was pondering the differing attitudes and the pervasive belief around me of being comfortable (almost complacent) with where we are, God reminded me of a scene of movie that my own daughters and I used to watch. In the movie, National Treasure (2004), Nicolas Cage is a treasure hunter and believes that he will find this amazing treasure if he continues the search. There are people who work against him throughout the entire movie. Some of them selfishly want the treasure for themselves and fight against his success at every turn. Some think that what he is doing is inherently wrong and therefore work to stop his pursuit of the treasure. Even his father has written him off as "crazy" and pleads with him to stop this pursuit. But he continues his quest, pouring his belief that there truly is treasure just around the next corner, through the next scary tunnel; that his search is not in vain. He even rallies a few close supporters who work with him because he has poured his belief so strongly that they begin to believe as well.
In the scene that God used to speak to me, Cage and his small group have survived near death experiences, have crawled through crypts and catacombs, discovered spiral staircases that are deteriorating and that go deep underground and finally entered a room of old treasures. It is a dusty, dark, cobweb-filled room with some really cool old treasures buried beneath the filth. Cage is carrying the torch to light the way so they can see the treasures around them. The team thinks they have reached the pinnacle and are so excited to have finally found what they were looking for, but they are missing the potential for excellence, just beyond their view. Cage is still looking around, still anticipating something even greater, and notices a vat of oil. Using the torch, he lights the oil to light up a treasure room beyond their imaginations.
We must continue the pursuit of greatness! Future generations are counting on us to light the oil for them, to pour belief into them, to show them that excellence is not something to be attained, but to pursue. We are charged with being torch bearers. There will be those who give up. There will be those who call us crazy. There will be those who fight against us for their own selfish reasons, but if we persevere, if we follow our calling, if we continue to show up and fight for those who are hungry for excellence, if we continue to lead with the torch, eventually we will be greeted with a vat of oil to light and the world will see the difference it makes. Do not give up. It may be dark. It may be scary. The treasure room is just ahead. Carry your torch high, pour your belief in others when they need it, and light the oil.
Blessed more than I deserve,
Stephanie
