Day Twenty Four: Gifts!

Today started like just about any other day. Get up, get ready, get to work.... However, this wasn't just any other day. My principal called a meeting and informed us of some very good news. Title 1 schools get a lot of our money from federal programs. In his words, sometimes the money is there and sometimes the money is not. We found out today that right now, the money is there. Surprise!!! We have a budget of several thousand dollars for capital items (large ticket technology), a few thousand for professional development, and a few thousand for manipulatives and supplies. The kicker is that we only have until March 26 to use them and we are not in school from March 14 - 23. He also announced that money is on a first come, first serve basis. Basically, get it fast or don't get any at all. Needless to say, we (my team) have been searching high and low for workshops and materials we can use. Seriously, I don't know how many more websites my eyes can take in. We are all brain dead but we keep telling ourselves, "We are spending someone else's money on us!" It is such a blessing!!! I'm calling it the mad dash spend of Spring 2009.

As we were scouring catalogues this afternoon and "shopping" online, a thought hit me. This is grace in a tangible form. We have done nothing to deserve this money and we are getting about $30,000 just because of where we work and who we work for. We did not apply for it and we did not seek it out. It is a free gift to us. The best part is that even though we are the ones getting to spend the money and make the purchases, we are not the ones truly being blessed by this grant. Our students will benefit more than we could do for them on our own.

Same thing with God. He has showered us with SO many gifts that we not only didn't seek out but did not even think to ask for! Just because He loves us, there it is. All we have to do is reach out and take it. And once we've done that, the gifts just keep on coming! The Holy Spirit does some mighty powerful things in our lives. We just reap the benefits and watch as He does His thing to bless those around us through us. That's the point, isn't it? To allow ourselves to be used to bless others? To allow ourselves to be used to serve others? Most of the time, it is from something bigger than ourselves. Bigger than our nature. Out of a love and compassion for them, we allowed to be used to pass along grace. What a big job! I am thankful that we serve an even bigger King!

So I find myself asking, where am I spreading the grace?