(This month I have been “remembering backwards” in honor of my dear mama, Mary Araujo. Maybe I should wrap things up? Or maybe there’s more to reflect on. Today, let’s go back to an earlier time…)
I’m digging back, far further than those final memory loss days together, back to Mom’s teaching days and even earlier. How far into the past can I travel seeking treasures? This month of May continues.
Mom always taught. In my younger days, she stayed home with Paula and me. Yet, she showed me all sorts of truths about stories, flower gardens, forgiveness, and creativity. She embraced life’s beauty.
A crisis that sent Mom into the classroom. When my dad developed Hodgkin’s disease, she realized she needed a way to earn money. I imagine she must have been overwhelmed by this transition. Her world must have felt shaken and torn. Teaching fit her most naturally.
I find Mom’s journal, from the days she spent deliberating over her career. She wrote:
“I love working with children; my free time is however taken up with studies. I need to do the total job but which cause me to have little time to pursue areas I want to expand into- music, poetry, reading…” (Mary Michaelis, 1/10/76). Little did she know that her career would become a beautiful palette for all of her interests.
My mom was an amazing teacher! She worked through her feelings that teaching would cripple her creativity. Instead, everything she loved became a part of her educational tapestry. Mary’s classroom of multiage, Kindergarten through third grade, was a dynamic and marvelous place. The very necessity that threatened to take away her freedom became a springboard to launch her into the golden season of her life. My mom was fully alive in her classroom.
Now I remember visiting her learning environment as a young teacher. I hoped to observe Mom’s techniques and take them back to my own students in Southern California. After spending a day with her, I felt bewildered. How could anyone but my mom make such a complex learning environment so nurturing and engaging? I felt completely insufficient in contrast to my favorite teacher.
Those classroom visits from 25 years past shaped me. Now I have taught my own four children and supported many homeschool families. I discovered many of my mom’s lessons hiding inside me like little seeds, waiting for the right season to sprout. I imagine many of my best homeschool ideas came from those days of observation. The best lessons for teachers and students are learned through doing.
In that journal, Mom wrote:
My work would hold me to the
earth
And make my leaden feet
hold fast
Yet I would soar
Yet I would soar.
The things I study for my
teaching
I must force into
my head
Yet I would soar
Yet I would soar.
(Mary Michaelis, 1/10/1976)
And soar, she did!
Now I discover that my mom’s most difficult season led her into her brightest days. She probably never guessed the joy awaiting from the middle of her sorrowful days. Sometimes our deepest tragedies propel us into our most essential opportunities for growth.
I’m thankful for my teacher mama. She led me by example. Considering her story casts fear out of my heart as I look at the troubles in my own life.
“God uses all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes” (Romans 8:28 NIV).
He surely used Mom’s widowhood to birth a beautiful career. He uses my “light and momentary troubles” as well. I can trust God to waste nothing in my life.
When I trust God to guide my path, He does “exceedingly above and beyond all that I imagine” (Ephesians 3:20 NIV).
I will carry and share this lesson from my teacher mama. In her final days, she forgot the sadness of losing my dad too soon. She forgot the struggle to balance home and career. She may have forgotten the joys found in her classroom, but her impact on many students lives on today.
I will trust the Author of my own life. Jesus tells me,
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33, NIV)
For every sorrow, He knows how to bring forth a harvest. For every struggle, He surprises me with victory. When my life comes to an end, I hope it will show my children God’s faithful hand. My mom’s life surely does this for me.
Momentary troubles may come to each of us. Yet, with Christ in us, the hope of glory, we will soar.
Yes, we will soar.
