When I worked in child care, there were a lot of people who wanted to be the director. Well, I'm not sure if they really wanted to be or if they just wanted to criticize and believe they would do it better. Many teachers want to be in administration. Again, I'm not sure they really do. I think they say this when they are in disagreement with a decision that was made. Some elementary school teachers think high school teachers have it made, and vice versa. In almost every job, there are people who will look at another job as easy while theirs is hard. It's a part of the "grass is greener on the other side" phenomenon.
But the thing is that it is not true. Those daycare workers who thought they would be a better director would have been terrible, at least in the beginning. They would have made decisions people hated as well. As a teacher, I have a pretty narrow focus because I know how to teach science, but I don't know how to teach any other subject, and I for sure don't know how to make decisions that affect everyone in the building. While high school teachers are jealous of the fact that elementary teachers have assistants and elementary teachers are jealous of the high school teachers' planning periods, the fact is that if either had to do the other's job for a week, they would curl up in a corner and cry. God wisely placed you in the job you are in and not a different one. He spent your whole life preparing you for it.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. I know what you are thinking because it is what people always say to me. "Everyone wanted to be an astronaut." Everyone did not fill out an application to the Air Force Academy in the fourth grade (I still don't know where I found that). Everyone did not cut out pictures of the space shuttle from newspapers and tape them in their notebooks next to their pictures of Ralph Machio and Michael J. Fox. Everyone did not babysit for 500 hours to afford a trip to Space Camp. I wanted to pilot the space shuttle. I was about 13 when it became evident that wasn't the future God had for me, and I was sad about that, but that dream wasn't wasted. It had prepared me to teach physics, a subject I had not yet discovered I loved.
I had great teachers in every area. I had English teachers who taught me to communicate well and value credible sources. I had math teachers who showed math to be more than finding an answer, revealing the world of fractals and polling and teaching me to solve problems. I even had two history teachers who showed its value (which I wasn't inclined to believe at the time). While I had great teachers in every area, there is no question that the most influential teachers I had were science teachers. They were all teaching me to view the world in a way that prepared me to teach science. I learned more than content. I learned methods and styles of teaching that inform my own practice and philosophy. Even my 6th-grade teacher's silly nicknames and teasing helped give me the personality necessary to teach middle school.
God prepares you for the future he has for you from early on. My dad traveled for work. He was out of town most of the time. This meant my brother and I were at home with our mom most nights, so I was never taught to think of being home without a man in the house as dangerous, which is good since God was preparing for singleness (a thought I would have hated at that time). Many women I know will not stay in their house if their husband isn't home. They spend the night with friends. It's a good thing I don't have that mindset, or I couldn't live the life God has for me.
Next time you think you would prefer someone else's job (or life), keep in mind that God didn't build those particular muscles in you. He didn't give you the skills, attitudes, or personality that would be needed for you to do that job. He prepared you for yours, which is a good thing because that job is something the world needs. It's almost like He knows what He is doing.
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