I met with a professional success this week. Over the last few years at my school, I’ve done some one-on-one professional development with other teachers. We’ve even published academic articles about our experiences. Then, as some students at our school progressed through an extracurricular program for future teachers, co-workers I had coached became the coaches and guided these students through a microteaching experience.

After the microteaching, one of the coaches had the opportunity to give a presentation at a teacher development conference. She could have chosen to focus on her own accomplishments or our school’s, without ever once mentioning the foreigner. Instead, she shared her experiences being coached, then our article, and finally the cycling back around to coach others. I’d already sensed that the microteaching was a huge success. She made me feel prouder. Even more, for a number of years, I’ve been encouraging co-workers I’ve coached to coach others. We’ve tried some different setups. Finally, we found one that works!

Last week my coffers felt full to overflowing with favor and accomplishment. And now? I can rest on my laurels, right?

As followers of the Master Teacher, success—of honorable and fruitful work—never brings an end to our service. We may take some time to breathe, slowing to revel in the favor He’s granted. But then, I lead these future teachers to the next stage. At the same time, a new cohort begins, and my co-workers coach again. All the while, I look for opportunities to shine, to push people beyond the boundaries of self to considering others and hopefully to Other. Blessed to bless. Me. My co-workers. Our students. And then back around, the cycle maintains its momentum.

The cycle of blessed to bless is not a modern-day fad as sermons and hashtags might suggest. Instead, its roots trace back to Abraham. God promised to bless him and also to bless all nations on earth through him. Through Sarah and Abraham’s longed for son, Jesus would come and offer eternal peace to the world. Moreover, with the people they encountered every day, they were to “‘be a blessing’…grow[ing] in such a way that [their] presence would be a channel of well-being.”¹

“Love the alien as yourself, the Torah insisted. Love your neighbor as yourself, even if your neighbor is a Samaritan, Jesus echoed. In everything, do to other what you would have them do to you, love your enemies, lay aside the desire to be the center of your world and love as God loves, without favoritism.”²

Someday, in the not-so-distant future, I will retire, but the cycle of blessed to bless will continue. No stage of life, no circumstance brings an end. We have been blessed with love and favor, skills and opportunities which we pour out for others—shining brightly like stars in a dark universe. When blessing then cycles back around and fills our coffers again, we don’t selfishly rest on our laurels as if we deserve what we’ve received, no matter how hard we’ve worked. We also don’t greedily build bigger barns anxious the supply may eventually run out. Instead, trusting the one who cares for birds and flowers, we seek first His Kingdom, pouring ourselves out yet again until all nations on earth are blessed.³

Image by indigoblues38 from Pixabay

1. David I. Smith, Learning from the Stranger (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmanns, 2009), 21. ↩︎
2. Smith, 134-135. ↩︎
3. Thank you to Vicar K for helping me see the connection between bigger barns and the fear of not-enough. ↩︎