a reacurring thought

Today I heard a class of about 20 3rd graders say, "Thank you, Emily." It might have been the cutest thing I've heard in a long time.

My mom has been substituting full time for a teacher that is on maternity leave until October. She wanted me to come meet her class and teach them some different lettering things that they could use on the project they were working on.

Now, I'm around kids a good bit. I have done and continue to do my fair share of babysitting. I've worked with youth for a while. I'm currently teaching the kindergarten class on Sunday mornings. I'm beginning to learn which age groups I'm better at than others. I used to see "kids" as a collective group and you are either good with kids or you aren't. I'm quickly learning that you can be great with a 2 year old and horrible with a 4 year old (that's me). Or you can be great with a 8th grader and not so great with a 4th grader. I can make the general statement that I love kids because I truely do. However when it comes to actually teaching them things....I think I love them once they have had a year of school and can write. That means first grade and up. I LOVE these kids. That's what I've learned.

I've tossed back and forth the idea of being a teacher. I always knew that's what I wanted to do. Always. I'm curious as to why I didn't pursue that in college. I keep saying I'll go back to school so I can teach when I pay off my loans. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Here's my question...How do you plan the future you have no control over? If there are things you know you want to do and you know God has gifted you in a way to be good at them, how long do you wait until you use those strengths and pursue those dreams? I love my job right now but I know I would love teaching as well. I know there is an element of trust. I also feel like there's an element of action on my part as well. I'm curious to see where God guides me over these next few as I continue to learn more about who He is creating me to be.

what are your passions and dreams? Are you pursing them? Are you somewhere else for the time being? I'm just curious as to others ways of handling this part of life. The real world, I guess.