The Soul of an Educator

By David H. Maxwell

In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Love is defined. This is a real, applicable, and genuine definition of love. As a public school administrator, I have learned that relationships are crucial for students to be successful in school, especially for those students for whom school has been challenging. If educators use love as the guiding force when teaching/interacting/working with and disciplining students, that can often be the deciding factor that keeps a student returning to a school or engaged in a class. The Soul of an Educator is intended for anyone who works with or comes into contact with children on a regular basisteachers, counselors, janitors, custodians, bus drivers, administrators, and parents. This book explains how to use love when building relationships with students and the positive results that occur.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503594531

David H. Maxwell

Serving as a public school educator for twenty years, David Maxwell strives to build lasting, meaningful relationships with students, families, and colleagues. He has discovered the basis for the best relationships must have a foundation of love, as defined by 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

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PROLOGUE

Before we are born, while we are forming in our mother’s womb, as our cells are multiplying, and we are taking form, God plants a seed within us. This seed is our purpose on Earth, what we are here to do, our destiny to fulfill. Throughout our lives, we are responsible to make sure that seed is identified and nourished in order to take root so that when it is time to bear fruit, we are able to graciously give that fruit to others and to serve. Often that seed becomes forgotten. Sometimes that seed becomes covered in doubt, both self-doubt and doubt caused by others; and identifying it, seeing it, and believing it becomes especially challenging. Sometimes, others try to replace God’s seed with a seed of their own, attempting to convince us what our purpose is, instead of us trusting ourselves and identifying with God’s intent and purpose for us.

As an educator, I often ponder the questions around purpose, existence, and meaning; the interaction of all within God’s creation, and what it is we are supposed to do in our lifetimes. As an educator, at an early point in my journey, I deduced the purpose of human existence was that as humans, we are to learn as much as we can in the time we are here. In fact, it reasons that because we are the only creatures with the reasoning capacity, we are to use that ability to the best of our abilities. We are designed to learn. We are designed to question, to investigate, to problem solve. We are able to predict, to explain cause and effect relationships, to hypothesize and theorize. Our brains are the most intelligent of the animal kingdom, and what has been accomplished through education is nothing short of miraculous. We have created, we have built, and our intelligence has allowed us to leave the confines of our earthly realm and land men on the moon. It has allowed us to see moons, planets, stars, and galaxies, billions and trillions miles away.

Starting in the earliest years of our existence, we try to figure things out, try to make meaning, try to identify and understand. Babies put things in their mouths trying to identify what an object is. As they grow, they learn the ability to communicate through language, and questions form while they try to make sense of the world around them. This inquisitiveness continues as we grow; and when we latch onto an experience or an idea larger than us, we often pursue this ideal for the rest of our lives, and we become life-long learners. Again, to learn as much as we can in the time we are here.

I no longer believe the sole purpose of human existence is to learn as much as we can in the time we are here. I do continue to promote and encourage this line of thinking, but I have evolved into a new dimension regarding the purpose of existence. This new line of thinking reverts to the idea of the God-planted seed. Now I assert the purpose of human existence is two-fold and, when applied simultaneously, becomes one purpose. The purpose for human existence is (1) to serve and (2) to treat others the way we would like to be treated. These two assertions when paired together equal Love. The purpose of human existence is to Love. When we are able to identify the God-placed seed, nourish it, and allow it to grow inside us, and when we live out our purpose on Earth through self-actualization to where we bear fruit and give back to our fellow human beings, and even more ambitiously, create a change that leaves the world a better place than that which we occupy, then we achieve the purpose of human existence. I am a person of faith who believes our purpose and destiny is to Love, for we are built and designed to be in relationships. God created us for the express purpose of being directly and intimately intertwined in our lives. What do all people, all humans have in common? The capacity to participate in a relationship with someone else. To give and receive compassion, grace, forgiveness, patience, kindness, and love as a result of someone’s intentionality. That is God at work in our