Lesson learned: Satan's like a first-grade bully

This past year I had a student who loved to tease and annoy the other students in the class. He just got a kick out of it for some reason. He loved to push the kids' buttons and find their weak spots and make them unhappy. (I must admit that I am not really missing seeing him every day...) He especially loved to tease this one girl in my class. And, unfortunately, she made matters worse by spending too much time around him, listening to the teasing, reacting to it, and eventually coming to believe it. While I did have several conversations with this young man about how he needed to work on being a better friend, I also had many conversations with this girl, trying to explain to her that if she would ignore him and play with the other kids, he wouldn't love teasing her so much and she wouldn't be so unhappy. I wanted her to realize that while it was not nice for him to tease her, it was her choice how much she let him get to her.

While Satan is definitely more powerful and deceptive than a first grade bully, his tactics are very similar. Satan gets to know us, tries different methods to see what works best on us, and searches for our weak spots. And then the moment we give in and allow him in, he pulls us a little more to his side of the line... sometimes without us even realizing what just happened.

I'm not exactly sure why, but for some reason, it seems way easier to listen to Satan than the Spirit. I think it may be because a lot of the time it sounds more appealing, simpler, easier, popular, and, ironically, often sounds like it has more truth to it. But the more we let him in, the less control we have and the harder it is to discern right from wrong, truth from lies, the promptings of the Spirit from the desires of Satan, and we lose sight of the big picture and what we truly want.

I remember at one point, the girl in my class was feeling especially fed up with this boy and said, "I wish he could just go away and not be in our class anymore!" (Thank goodness for my teacher filter that kept me from saying that I was actually on the same page as her...)

It's the same with Satan—at times we may just wish he could go away for a little while and give us a break, but unfortunately, he's not going anywhere. We do, however, have control over how much we are around him. In first grade terms, we can make sure not to sit at his table or play in his group. We can make sure that we have good friends around us so he can't come single us out. We can ignore him the minute he starts to pick on us so that he'll come to realize that we are not going to be an easy target. And we can go to the Teacher and tell Him that we are having a hard time with Satan that day. My experience is that if I surround myself with good people, do good things, stay relatively busy, and pray for extra strength, Satan has a much harder time getting to me. It's when I'm home alone, just wasting time, and relying on my own strength that he is able to sneak his way into my thoughts.

Don't underestimate the strength and power that Satan can have if you allow him into your life. But, on the flip side, don't underestimate the strength and power that you have, magnified by the strength of the Lord, to stand up against Satan and his destructive ways.

Lesson learned: People come and go for a reason

As a teacher, it takes me a good chunk of time to decide where all my students are going to sit. I know you might think that's silly, but there's actually a lot to take into consideration! I look at personalities, levels of loudness, reading ability, boy and girl combinations, how chatty they are, how well they can (or cannot) focus, leadership and cooperation abilities, etc. It's quite the process. But I'm willing to take the time to really make it work because I know how big of a deal it is. I know that certain students need to be around other students in order for them to be successful, happy, and focused. I also know that some students need to not be around certain students in order for them to be successful, happy, and focused.

Whenever I decide it's time for a change, I wait until the school day is over and then I move all of their desks around. The next morning, the kids quickly realize they have new spots and wander around to find their desks and see who they sit by. Then the shouts of glee begin as friends discover they're sitting next to each other, quickly followed by some dramatic moans, as some discover they're sitting next to their not-so-favorite classmate and their friend is on the other side of the room. Some of the unhappy students will plead with me to switch their desks with so-and-so, but I just tell them that I really think this will be a good spot for them for now and give them a little pat on the back.

Even though the days of having our desks moved around are over, we still have similar experiences in our lives now as people come in and out of our lives. Heavenly Father is constantly moving "desks." I don't always love it when this happens since I am a big fan of things staying the same, but I take comfort in the fact that He doesn't just move desks around for kicks and giggles; He does everything with a purpose. He knows who will work well together and who won't, who needs help and who needs to be a helper, who is feeling tired and who is feeling strong, who needs a change of scenery and who needs a bit of consistency, who will bring someone down and who will lift another up, who is a good listener and who needs to work on being a good listener, who is willing to be vulnerable and who is going to remain guarded, who needs to learn something and who needs to teach something, who is very capable and who is still a beginner. He knows who needs to be next to who in order for all of us to get where we need to go and become who we need to become.

People are placed in our lives for a reason. We may not see it at first and we may even want to ask the Teacher to "switch our desks," but if we pay attention, we may be fortunate enough to see how that person is blessing our lives. On the flip side, people sometimes leave our lives for a reason. We may have a loved one pass away, a roommate move out, a significant other leave the relationship, or a family member move. Sometimes it might be because they weren't having a great influence on us. Or it might be because we have learned what we needed to from them and Heavenly Father needs us to learn something from someone else.

Right now, more than ever, I know that there are people in my life who are there for a specific purpose... old friends, new friends, past mission companions, the senior couples I taught at the MTC, the members I met in Poland, mission presidents, my bishopric, my stake presidency, siblings, parents, teachers, the guys I've dated and then broken up with, visiting teachers, visiting teachees, roommates, next door neighbors, the guy who spoke in church a few weeks ago, the girl who stopped by just to say hi, those who read my blog, extended family, co-workers, mentor teachers, and my dear first graders. It's almost unnerving how well Heavenly Father knows me and who I need in my life right now. I have been blessed by so many people and have been able to bless others simply because their desks were moved next to mine. How grateful I am that I don't always get to choose where my desk will be and that we have a Teacher who has planned out the perfect "seating chart" for all of us.