Our kids and family can absolutely overwhelm us sometimes. Maybe it’s not this exact scenario, but we are feeling the stress of trying to keep it all together. Being an educator in this society is hard enough, much less everything at home falling apart. How do we keep this out of our work life? How do we function day to day when we are literally only able to go through the motions?

And the thing about addiction is that we think we have it under control. What starts as an escape then forms a habit and eventually moves into something that we no longer control—it controls us. And when that happens, the addiction begins to impact everyone around. It can destroy whole families. And as a teacher, when someone in your home is addicted, it becomes so difficult separating homelife from work life.

Day 3, When Our Homelife Interferes For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. Psalm 27:5 (ESV) One of my favorite books from childhood was Roald Dahl’s Matilda. The young child, Matilda was raised in a family who found value in lies, watching television, and earning money at whatever cost. They did not encourage deeper learning and did not like to listen to anyt

The emotional toll of a broken marriage creates doubts, anger, questions, fear, hate, and uncertainty. And what happens when the marriage ends in divorce, leaving the teaching spouse with a single income? And what if there are kids involved? Just the weight of thinking through these questions seems overwhelming, much less personally walking through the pain. Years of devotion go up in smoke and the tears of betrayal overwhelm.

Day 1, When Our Homelife Interferes This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life. Psalm 119:50 (ESV) Our life was overbooked between soccer, school, work, and our long-term house build project. Most evenings we ate behind a steering wheel and got in bed later than desired. I had just joined church staff as the part-time Outreach and Connections Coordinator and was in my tenth year of supervising student interns and adjunct teaching betw

At some point, if a teacher remains in the system long enough, they will face one of life’s hard circumstances, leaving them in a situation they never asked for. Marriages will have issues and some will end. Family members will become sick, and some may die. Addictions and jail time might hit your household. Abuse and other secrets don’t jump over teachers’ homes. Financial hardship and bankruptcy might sneak in too. How will we manage when the worst-case scenario shows up?