Timeliness, prioritizing, and organization have always been a challenge for me, while thinking outside the box, seeing the big picture, helping others, and experimenting in different forms of creativity recharge my soul. I am honored to be one of the many mentors within the Four C Inspire team that serves all 400+ freshmen at Farmington High School on certain Fridays during the school year, with the goal to mentor and encourage these students to discover their value, purpose, and strength through respect, mindfulness, and courage. I am on cloud nine each time after I volunteer!
Serena, my co-mentor in this class, and I both get so excited envisioning new ways to help these young women shine! One of the ideas she came up with was a beautiful little name plate we could set in front of each of the girls. Its purpose was two-fold: allow the girls to see we truly value each one of them and, slightly covertly, to help us remember the girls’ names! We rolled them out last week and they were a huge success!
Of course, we missed some and misspelled some, but we knew that would happen. All last week and right up until this morning, I kept reminding myself to edit/add/reprint the corrected tags before heading to the school. I was so proud of myself – I got there 30 minutes early so I could prep the tags for the correct desks in class. Oh my! I couldn’t wait to give them to the girls! I glance at my phone and realize the time for the other mentors to show up has passed. Ugh.
You ever get so excited to complete a task or project that you overlook a minor detail… like the date… that you miss it entirely? Well, that’s what I just did–there was no Inspire this week! How many times can I say it… welcome to my world of ADD. Having made that statement, again, I am called to reevaluate it: The recurrence and the accompanying reason is, to say it plainly, an excuse.
We are called to honor God by loving Him, following in Jesus’ example, and serving Him and others. As a mentor, one of the things we teach these young men and women is to be mindful in our actions, good and bad, for they all have consequences, good and bad. Sitting in my car, I felt foolish at my mistake, but I thanked God my “oopsie-doodle” did not have any bad consequences for the students. Driving away, I felt Him say “Set your eyes upon Me.” A peace settled my anxiety and I then sensed His words, “By setting your eyes upon Me, you do not become so distracted by your own overzealousness [of serving others, being creative] that you [are not righteous in your actions] do not serve Me.”
Thank you, Lord, for turning this “oopsie-doodle” into an “Aha!” moment for this daughter of Yours.
Amen and Amen
For more information about The Inspire School Program and the Four C Inspire program in San Juan County, you can check out their facebook page: Four C Inspire
Chris Parker
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