Just...trust me.

So I made a mark on 2-3 students' tests today, to indicate their test-time chatter. A couple of them seemed alarmed at my doing so; they seemed to feel justified in their behavior, and I can understand how they might feel that way. Even though I 'disciplined' them in this way, in my heart I know they don't have to worry. Trust me. I know that if they end up at least close to the minimum requirements for achievement and proficiency, there's a good chance they'll pass. I'll have to figure out for sure if it's okay at this school to 'flub' a bit if some students don't technically make the cut, but I assume it would probably be okay. At another school, I think I've used my 'sense' on students who numerically didn't get to the level I thought they should be at. So in the end...what are grades? They're meant to measure the students' proficiency and progress. Hopefully they motivate the students to study and try their best. Ultimately, come grade time, though, I'll have a general sense of who should or should not pass. Yes, I'll do the numbers and plug them into excel, blah blah blah. And there might be a few borderliners and people I'm unsure of whether or not they should pass. It'll be with those students that I may need to balance my 'sense' with their numerical achievement and proficiency and final test performance.

Life application.

In times of trial (which might include for some questioning the fairness of or reasons for particular life crises), we can still trust. We can trust Him. He knows what he's doing. He works all for the good. He disciplines "for our good" (Hebrews 12:10). "...the testing of [our] faith develops perseverance" (James 1:3). Trials "have come so that [our] faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 5:7). In the midst of trial, we can still trust.

Our performance and achievement is not the admission ticket to heaven. Yes, a genuine faith will bear fruit. A "faith without deeds is dead" (James 2:26). Thankfully God's spirit can work in us and through us. But we don't have to worry that our sin will prevent us from the glory of heaven. Jesus paid our admission ticket in full, if we accept His gift through faith in Him.