A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35, NIV

While sitting in a staff meeting this week already feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, our principal began to share yet another expectation from the district. As he spoke, I could feel the joy draining from my body and my heart beginning to harden. The expectation felt like too much on an already full plate. My old internal dialogue began to creep in. How can I possibly do more? I’m not superhuman!

I knew I needed to do something. So I excused myself for a water break.

As I walked to fill my water bottle, I silently cried out to God, voicing to Him all of my frustrations and fears. Then, I heard God say, “Love them.”

I know this is not a new message. But if I’m honest, I’ve always tied it back to my students. However, at that moment, I remembered an important truth: I am called to pray for my leaders too. Even those leaders who are giving me expectations higher than I could ever reach. And I am called to love them too.

As I heard this, I felt an instant shift and my heart fell into repentance. I realized that I had accepted judgment instead of love. At that moment, I realized my principal was just asking for what he thought might “help” my students. He also feels overloaded. It is not me against him (at least it shouldn’t be). It should be me on my knees FOR him too. And somehow in that space, that small surrender, my heart shifted back to remembering the truth: God is love. So with a full water bottle and a renewed heart, I reentered the meeting with a truth-filled lens of love.

Jesus, Help us to see past the demands and hardships of the teaching world. Help us to remember the truth that You are love. Help us to see when we are not walking in love and surrender those spaces to You. Open doors for us to love our leaders and others around us as You have loved us. Amen.

Copyright Rebekah Hutchinson.

Rebekah is a Christian Educators member and a second-grade teacher in Vancouver, Washington.