Many years ago I offered to step in and help out my son's school by filling in for the third grade teacher who quit in the beginning of October with no notice. The school was in a bind and was thinking of hiring daily subs for the remainder of the year. I was at home not doing too much. I had quit teaching middle school the year prior to hopefully become pregnant again, but that plan failed. I could feel God tugging on my heart strings for these little third graders. I did have some hesitation in offering to teach them - they were known to be an extremely difficult class. There were twenty boys and five girls. The boys weren't easy boys either. No teacher up to that point had been able to control them. When I was a middle school teacher I used to watch that class as they were coming up and think, "Whew, I hope I'm not teaching anymore by the time they're in middle school." Funny how man plans and God laughs!
I delved into my new job just before Halloween thinking, "Honestly, how hard can they be? I am a middle school teacher, afterall!" I can tell you they handed me my head on a silver platter every day for the first month and a half. They were so out of control and had been allowed to be so for such a long time, that I used to spend class time just having them practice lining up at the door, sitting back down, getting books, sitting still, sitting silently, etc. The first two weeks with them, I jumped up on the saddle, but lost the reigns and the horse dragged me with my feet still in the stirrups. The next couple of weeks, I slowly climbed up on the saddle, grabbed the reigns, the horse took off, and I held on for dear life, not controlling the horse whatsoever. The few weeks after that, I felt a turning point. I stayed on the horse, I held on to those reigns, and I actually commanded that horse more times than not.
The turning point with that class was about three weeks before Christmas when the school was practicing for a multicultural fair and our country would be France. We had to represent France at Christmastime. I decided I would teach these very busy and loud children a very quiet Christmas carol and have them sing it in French! THAT was the undertaking of the century! I found a traditional French carol that was very beautiful and slow, so it fit the bill perfectly. Of course those children bucked at the beginning, but they began to like it and before you knew it, all twenty of those boys and all five of those girls were singing that French carol like angels. We practiced and practiced and practiced. I had something to prove. These children were innocent children being deprived of a quality education because adults in their lives had washed their hands and given up...twenty boys, afterall. I would prove to our school that these children were able to be molded and shaped - they were pliable and able to change. They would see something in themselves they never even knew existed. They might see a potential they had never seen before. Perhaps their parents and former teachers would see them as they had never been seen before. They would shine anew this Christmas if I had anything to do with it.
I will never forget the looks on the faces of the teachers and administrators of the school when these students began to perform this song. It was quiet, calm, and angelic. My students sang slowly, calmly, and with control. It was definitely a turning point in the year. I had gained control of those reigns and I would not let them go until June. From January to June, a lot of learning occurred. Manners were learned. Self control was practiced. They learned empathy for each other. They began to detest other classes who were unruly (which made me giggle uncontrollably when they weren't around). They would say, "Mrs. Orces, can you make that class be quieter? They are disturbing us. We can't do our work!"
This Christmas, for some reason, I have been thinking of this moment in time. It was a beautiful rewarding moment in my life. I saw the power of determination, hard work, good example, and prayer. Even those whom others had deemed "gone" were not gone, but became new again. These children allowed themselves to shed the ugliness and wear a new shiny suit of beauty. It was beauty that emanated from the inside out.
I can't help but think about how I could change this Christmas while waiting the birth of the Messiah. Am I waiting for my king to come? Am I ready? Have I readied my heart? Am I wearing my new shiny suit? What about you? Are you holding anything in or holding back so that you are still wearing that "ugliness"? Our Lord and Savior is coming. He is Emmanuel! We, as Catholics, have to step outside of the secularism of Christmas. We must ready ourselves for the birth of Jesus, and we must show the world our joy. God chose to come to earth as an infant born in a dirty stable "between an ox and a donkey" (entre le boeuf et l'ane gris). The words "humble beginning" don't even begin to describe Jesus' arrival. He chose to be born into a family as a helpless baby with a very young unwed mother. This is how God sees His world - imperfect. We are imperfect, but we are always pliable...moldable. We can change as easily as children can. We can become shiny and new. Christ is always calling us. He is coming. His birth is imminent. It is through this infant child - God's only Son - that we are able to cleanse ourselves even if we come from humble beginnings or are stained from life's dirty stable that we may find ourselves in now. Prepare the way and prepare your heart for Christ the King...a king born between an ox and a donkey.
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