How Teaching the Faith Challenges Me

Teaching the Faith challenges me to say Yes to God

With the school year winding down, I have said my final farewell to my third grade faith formation class at my parish. I love teaching third grade CCE. Guiding these kids in the faith has brought me joy, tears, frustration, a desire to drink wine, gratitude and immense peace. They have taught me so much about myself and challenged me in all the best ways possible. Thinking about this year's class and my previous 3rd-grade classes inspired me to list out how they've challenged me. All the good and bad.

They challenge me -
...to know my faith
...to have fun
...to demonstrate patience
...to get better at classroom management
...to think of new ways to teach
...to grow in holiness
...to answer really, really tough questions
...to admit I don't know the answer
...to explain my faith
...to reflect God's love to them
...to help them find peace and comfort in prayer
...to really believe what I teach them
...to live my faith out loud in my actions and words
...to step outside my comfort zone and act silly
...to become a better disciplinarian
...to learn more about why I love God
...to find ways to excite them about Church
...to let go in the midst of chaos
...to call on the Holy Spirit for guidance
...to stay hip on what third graders are interested in
...to be a role model
...to inspire a hunger for Christ in them
...to show them an example of God's unconditional love

...to continue saying YES to God by stepping foot in the classroom week after week in an attempt to guide them closer to Jesus.

As a catechist, I want to inspire a lifelong hunger for Christ in my classroom of kids. I want them to be curious, to want to learn more, to want to grow closer to God, to know they are called to be holy and a disciple of Christ and to develop a personal connection with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. That's a tall order for a teacher who spends one hour a week with kids, but it is what I am called to do as a catechist. And I love it.