They're All Our Students

Before I was a stay-at-home mom, I was an elementary music teacher.  I taught in a district that had a high ESL population and also a growing population of poverty.  I loved my kiddos.  It was a tough environment to work in sometimes, knowing the baggage these kids carried, but incredibly rewarding.  While working there, I heard our superintendent say something one day that really stuck with me: "Whether they come from across the street or across the ocean, when they come through our doors they're our kids.  They're all our kids."  It was a great perspective when the going got tough. 

I had forgotten about this little nugget of truth until last spring.  It had been a particularly rough day (kind of like the afternoon we are currently having) and in order to make the time until Daddy got home tick away faster, I decided to take the kiddos on a walk around campus.  At the time I was six months pregnant and growing larger by the day.  My kiddos were less than thankful for this outing and were a bit....rambunctious.  Anytime we go on campus during the school day, we get a few looks because we are a little out of place on a college campus.  This particular day, we seemed to stick out even more.  A pregnant woman, messy hair and no makeup, two kids, crying and screaming, and our radio flyer wagon...yes, the song "Which of These Things Is Not Like the Other" was playing in the back of my mind.  To top off our afternoon constitutional, a group of girls we passed started giggling. It was just too much. 

As I recounted our "adventure" to Cole that night, I stated between sobs that I was done and I really wanted to talk about living somewhere else not so close to campus.  I was tired of sticking out like a sore thumb.  Cole pointed out that college students needed to witness what a family looks like, because so many come from broken or unhealthy ones. That they needed to see what a mom enjoying (or disciplining) her kids looked like.  "Well, it doesn't bother me when our (BCM) students see that," I stated flatly.  And Cole looked at me and said, "They're ALL our students.  We are called to minister to all college students, not just the ones that darken the door of our ministry.  All of them, including the silly eighteen year olds that would giggle at a mom having a frustrating day with two children."  Whoa...just whoa.  Those words of my superintendent came back to me and hit me in the heart.  I had lost my perspective! How callous my heart had become to only want to minister to the students in our ministry.

So this morning while I worked sorority recruitment and had moments of, "Does this really matter? Will any of these conversations pan out to anything more?  Will any of these girls come to our ministry?", the Lord brought these words back to me again....THEY'RE ALL OUR STUDENTS.  I will love them, because God has called me to bring the gospel to ALL PEOPLE.  They are our people...and people are frustrating and complicated and messy, but so am I.  And if anything our students need to know that I do not hold all the answers and do not have it all together, but I know the one that does! Pray with me that we will see fruit from our efforts helping with recruitment this week, but even if we don't, we will rejoice in the opportunity to serve and that we will be blessed to be a blessing.