Meaningful work, God’s provision

By Katrina Schmid

This first-year teaching business literally takes over your life. I am trying to make a practice of taking one day a week to not think or do anything school related for the whole day, but I still find myself thinking about projects I could do, tests I need to make, and how few lesson plans I have completed compared to how many I’m supposed to have completed.

In all reality, I love my job. This is the first week I feel like I can say that, and maybe it is because I have a long weekend. I have had summer jobs in which I work seven hours a day, five days a week, for just a couple months at a time. My workload was far less, the stress was far less crushing, but I could not wait to leave every day and stop thinking about my work.

Here, I will work fifty to sixty hours a week for eight months straight, but the work is life giving. I can honestly say I feel honored to have the responsibility of teaching the students at Lezha Academic Center. For the most part, they are hardworking, funny kids blessed with ingenuity.

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Katrina Schmid (front center) poses with some of her students at Lezha Academic Center on a hilltop overlooking the city of Lezhë.
Courtesy of author

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I recently read, “Anxiety is the result of envisioning the future without [Christ].” Sometimes, when I think about the fact that I am stuck in this grind until mid-June, I feel just a little anxious. I am honestly not sure how I am going to get everything completed that needs to be finished while also remaining sane. Yet this first month has already been proof that the Lord does provide what I need and sustains me in moments of chaos.

Even though my workload has been steadily increasing, the Lord has made my work more meaningful and life-giving every day. He has shown me that the more energy I put into building relationships, being merciful, generous and kind in the classroom and recognizing when the situations I get myself into are funny (like that one time I wore my shirt inside out), my work becomes less toilsome and more rewarding.