My Little Box

 After thirty years of working in the Hamblen County School System, this past week I transitioned to a new position with the Tennessee Department of Education. I'd have to admit that it all felt a little surreal until I started moving my stuff out of the office that had been my home away from home for the last five years. I have amassed quite a library over the years which filled one large bookshelf, and took several boxes to empty the shelves of my collection of inspirational, motivational, biographical, and educational hardback and soft cover resources for growth and knowledge. But it wasn't the boxes of books that caught my attention as I trekked up and down the steps from my office to my truck bed, no what created an opportunity to reflect was one little box filled with items that most people would not give you ten bucks for at a yard sale. As I gazed down into the box that had not garnered much attention as I packed the contents, a thought crossed my mind, "After thirty years is this all I have to show for my years of service in the field of education?" After delving into the contents of that little box, I realized that instead of a little box, I had in my possession a treasure chest filled with memories I would never sale.  A trophy that my son Ethan received in fourth grade for being on the honor roll in his Aunt Donna's class at Whitesburg Elementary, a can of Beanie Weenies with a tattered label that my nephew Jacob and I toppled across as we hiked a difficult trail in southwest Virginia. (We had been conversing about being hungry and on the next switchback of the trail, we walked up on the can sitting on a rock in the middle of the trail, the expiration date on the can was my birthdate. Thank you God!) Items like the kaleidoscope the teachers at Union Heights gave me one year representing my ability to see things from multiple perspectives, and a cup full of wooden coloring pencils made to look like sticks with bark taken straight from the tree. As I reflected and grinned continuously at the contents in my little box, I had an "Aha" moment, what I had amassed over the past thirty years won't fit into a little box, and it wouldn't even fit into a semi-truck trailer. I have been blessed beyond description with treasures that will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life, and hopefully will persist into the lives of my family and countless others for years and generations to come. 

Jesus provided this advice coupled with an applicable warning "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21. The items in my little box were mementos that jogged memories, but the items themselves aren't the treasure, the true treasure can be found in the positive impact and influence I hope that I have had in the classrooms, on the wrestling mats, volleyball courts, as a principal, and most recently as a district supervisor. I treasure the opportunities that I have been entrusted with over the past three decades, so many positive reflections that they couldn't even fit in a thousand cardboard boxes! 

Treasures such as a former wrestler who approaches me with his young wrestler son explaining to him that "Coach Carter was my wrestling coach and I'll never forget the things about life that he taught me on the wrestling mat", or the vast number of current teachers who are former students of mine, my daughter Rae included, that are now educators inspiring their students to give their best and not accepting anything less. Teachers, colleagues, other educational leaders, and parents or guardians that I have served and supported through professional development opportunities, conferences, and conversations over the years are treasures that can't be enumerated or boxed for safe keeping. I truly hope that on my epitaph the inscription reads something like, "He came into this world with nothing, and left everything he gained to everyone he met." 

Have you got a box of treasures? Are they golden artifacts that will dull over time? Are you busy accumulating "things" that will tarnish and rot and won't be worth the cardboard box they will be stored in? Or will the items in your box stir up memories of the lives you have touched, the impact in your world where you live, and the legacy you will leave behind one day? Maybe it’s time for you to do a mental unpacking of your memorabilia to see what you are putting your efforts in to storing? Keep in mind that it isn't too late to change what you have been collecting. It took me almost half of my life to really realize that what I was collecting didn't have a bearing on my "happiness". When I made a shift from a "me" focused life, to a "service before self" lifestyle it changed my life forever. "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So, I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20. What is in your little box? I'll stop here with my own little piece of advice, if you don't like what you find in your little box, then change it. You are in control of your life and what you put in your own little box!

 

Coach Carter