Mary and I recently watched a movie on Netflix called “The Grizzlies” . It was a wonderful movie, full of sadness, pathos, wicked reality checks and in the end a wonderful redeeming story of hope and faith in the goodness of people.
The story is a true and inspiring story that centers around a young, fresh out of college teacher who accepts the only job teaching he can get, in the small Arctic town of Kugluktuk. It’s not a “prime” teaching position to say the least. The town suffers from widespread drug use, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and the one highest teen suicide rates in the world. The students were naturally skeptical when Russ Sheppard arrived to teach on a one-year teaching contract. Somewhere along the way, in all the tragic and dismal circumstances Russ introduces his class to the sport of lacrosse in an effort to lift their spirits and give them a meaningful activity for all the time on their hands. While initially resistant, the students gradually came together and embraced the sport. They called their team “The Grizzlies” and even managed to be entered into the National Lacrosse Championships in Toronto Despite their ultimate defeat, (they didn’t have a chance against kids who had been playing lacrosse since they entered first grade), the Grizzlies discovered that success wasn’t defined in the score on the scoreboard but instead in doing their best, trying something new and gaining a bigger vision for their lives. In the end some of the kids’ lives were lifted by hope, purpose, and vision. Everyone who is a teacher should see this movie to be reminded of what a difference teachers can make in young people’s lives.
We should all be about doing whatever we do in life to help others. We should all have a vision for doing what we do that goes beyond financial reward, or recognition, or being praised by others or any of the dozen other things that somehow enter into choice of the career path of our own lives. We’re not all teachers but we all have the ability to touch each other’s lives in positive ways and that’s a powerful calling in and of itself.
Do you touch other people’s lives in positive ways? Do you offer encouragement when others are feeling discouraged? Do you lift other people up when everyone else is putting them down? Do you offer hope to people feeling hopeless? These are countless opportunities every one of us has to give back to the world more than we take out of it. I believe with all my heart and soul that’s what ministers are called to do and what I have tried to do over my own lifetime. Sometimes we fail, sometimes we get in our own way, sometimes we don’t live up to who and what God calls us to be but sometimes we do, and that’s a beautiful thing.
Think about what you do; your career path isn’t what defines your opportunity to be a positive influence in the lives of other people, especially young people. It’s who you are and how you give back to the world that makes your life a success or not. We all have the invitation; we don’t all make use of it. How about you? Are you ready to have a positive impact in other’s lives? I believe you are!
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