This semester of teaching has come to an end. The final tests are being administered and graded. It’s been a tough semester in many ways. Sometimes for students there are life issues that overwhelm.

While we all like to think in terms of “winners” or “soaring like eagles,” there are many times we find ourselves limping along. Life hits us hard. When students communicated those tough bumps in the road, I tried to help. There were times some huge life situations overwhelmed people and they just needed someone to lean on. They limped along.

We can’t always soar. We can’t always talk “success” talk. Sometimes we limp. Sometimes we need to be that crutch for others who are limping.

I don’t always make the right call. Sometimes I am the tough guy who has to bear down and not take the late assignment. At other times there is a sense of discernment as to the pothole a student may have hit and they are limping.

Life all around us is that way. We sometimes get people around us who really are limping and need someone to lean on. I think of the passage from Isaiah:

³ Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;

⁴ say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you.” (Isa. 35:3,4)

We need to be that crutch for people from time to time. Let them lean on us. We all need carrying from time to time.