I have been a preschool teacher for over 14 years. I have been a preschool director for almost 1 year. When COVID hit, there was a decision to close the elementary school and the preschool. We closed for nearly 4 months. During that time, there was a lot of back and forth emails from me to the parents of the children who were in my class. There were zoom meetings and circle times done through the computer.
Move ahead to June and feeling like I needed to fight to get the preschool back open. I had four families who wanted their child to be back at preschool. The parents were trying to work at home but working with a preschoolers, well I can’t even imagine that. So after many meetings, the preschool opened back up with four families. It remained at four families for June and July. In August, there was a turn, other families started calling and wanting tours of the preschool.
I had been praying since we opened back up that God would bring the families He needed to be there to the school. I thought all the families that were there precovid would come back. But God had different plans. One by one, new children came. Only by God’s grace the new children were embraced by the four that had been there the whole time. I kept telling the children, we are praying for new friends. Boy were they ready when new children came. They stepped into roles I would have never imagined. Oh by the grace of God, His presence was and is in that school.
Today I was standing in the doorway of the classrooms and I was watching as the children were playing in the house area. A young two year old started today. I watched how he reacted to the children, who had just surrounded him and played around him. Trying to learn his name and embracing him as a new friend. I am so incredibly grateful to be around these children. They show the grace and love of God to each other every single day. I can not imagine how it would feel to be in a place where you didnt know anyone but the children around you were friendly and welcoming. Oh what a gift!
My colleague saw me just watching the children from the doorway. I told her that this was such a gift to watch these children. She reminded me that this is what I had been praying for. This was an answered prayer. Months I have been praying for God to bring the children He thought needed to be there. These classrooms are full. I wonder what and who God will bring when the other classroom is open. I am so incredibly grateful to be a teacher and be in these children’s lives. It is an answered prayer and God is so good!
Quiet Intensity 