in hot pursuit of the eternal life

1 Timothy 6:11 Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

This was the passage referenced in today's sermon at church.  And it spoke to me.

I've decided. I am not going to coach speech next year.  Notice I didn't say I am not going to coach speech ever again. I do believe that God will call me to coach again. I believe in what it does for students' lives. I think God does too.  However, I need a break. And it's mostly because I'm "missing the mark "as it pertains to the above scripture. And He knows it...

I need to focus more on pursing "the eternal life to which" I was called.  Now, what does that mean? I found a good commentary online that explains what the apostle Paul probably meant by this...

From Living Stream Ministry...
In verse 12 Paul specifically says that we have been called to eternal life. No other book in the New Testament speaks of “the eternal life to which you were called.” This is a particular characteristic of 1 Timothy. Do you realize that you have been called to eternal life? This eternal life does not mainly refer to blessings in the future. To be called to eternal life does not mean that we have been called to enjoy blessings in heaven. Eternal life should be our life today, a life for our present daily living. By our first birth, the physical birth, we received the Adamic life. But because we have been called to eternal life, we should no longer live the Adamic life, the natural life. Yes, we must be truly human, even Jesus was human, but not in our natural life. On the contrary, we need to live a human life by the eternal life. We have been called to this life, and now we need to live it.

And so, how do we live this eternal life?  We need to "pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness." 

Righteousness - Right living.  Seeking to enjoy the right things and to shun that which is sin.  I'm decent at this, but far from perfect.

Godliness - Pursing God.  My quite time could be better.

Faith - That is believing and trusting in Him instead of in myself.  Giving control over to Jesus.  And since I'm a control freak by nature, this is a struggle.

Love - We know what this is, right?  And there are just some people that it is tough to love... need to work on that.

Endurance - Steadfastness in what is righteous.  Again.  Needs work.

Gentleness - I need to work on this with my children - most especially Beth.

Anyway, I have important things I need to concentrate on - obviously - and I can't do that if I'm preoccupied on Saturdays and/or working late because of speech and debate practices.  Not to mention, I can't work on all of the above if speech and debate is stressing me out.  It makes me a poor teacher at times, and it makes me a poor wife and mother at times.  And these times need to stop.  I can't afford to lose precious moments with my family and with my students (to which I am called first and foremost as a teacher). As I said in my previous post, something has got to give, and I believe God is showing me what it is.

It kinda makes me sad that I won't be directly involved in this anymore.  I'll still help with our tournament and with literary competitions, but coaching and chaperoning Saturday tournaments, I just can't do that anymore.  I'm praying that the students who will still want to be involved in this can find another teacher to help them out.  I know that if God wants this to continue at our school, they will be successful in this.

I need to be with my family - with them that we are not guaranteed another day with. I need to be with my children who need their mommy just a bit more right now.  I need time to focus on being a better teacher - because I don't feel all that effective at the moment.  I just need more time. And this is the solution, for now. 

I just hope my principal and the debate coach understand and are supportive of my decision.  We'll see.  I'll announce it in March.