Hope does not diminish the hard⁣ ⁣- Terri Flannagan

To all the mommas out there... I just had to share this with you from my sweet sister who is tackling virtual learning with the best attitude of finding hope through the hard days!

"For 6 years we have gathered on the eve before school starts to pray. Same school. Same spot. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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But so different this year, isn’t it. Nothing about this is normal, easy or what we would choose. But here we are. And I’ve got one thing. ⁣HOPE. Hope is defined as a feeling of trust. And I have so much right now. Truly. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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I trust my school, the leadership and the teachers. I believe in them and am praying for them as they navigate roles they never dreamed when they passionately stepped into the assignment as teacher.⁣ I’ve never loved my school as I’ve seen us all come together! I trust my GOD. I know none of this is a surprise to Him. I trust that He will equip me for this new assignment and give me daily what I need. But...⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐃𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Being hopeful does not mean that we won’t have bad days, tears or frustrations. It doesn’t take away deep grief over what once was and what I thought would be this next season. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Hope offers us a place to come and take a breath, because someone already has it all figured out. Hope means I’m placing my trust in ONE that can never disappoint. Our teachers 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 get it wrong and we 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 mess it up with our kids as we navigate this new normal in this season. We are all missing out on so much, each in our own places and seasons.⁣ But my hope and expectations aren’t on people.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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So this morning — We were ready, HOPEFUL. Logged on. Had our game plan and happy hearts and then everything crashed. Literally, the platform our district and state are using crashed and so our hearts started to follow and crash too. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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We struggled to recover and anything that could have added to the chaos of this morning came in FULL force. So I sent a message to my friends (scroll down to listen). I can’t even. I don’t know if I was laughing so hard I began to cry or crying and then laughing because it’s all so ridiculous.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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This is hard, stretching, hilarious, sad. It’s a big lesson in giving and receiving. It’s about taking a deep breath and remembering what’s actually important.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣"
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#hopedoesnotdiminishthehard⁣
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~Terri Flannagan