Looking Upward because my blog name says so

You may wonder why I chose Looking Upward as the name of my blog. "Looking Upward" is the title of a watercolor Joe Lackie, an artist from St. Francisville, Louisiana, sent to me one Christmas. I have to stop here and tell you how I met Mr. Lackie. Brookie worked in the Baton Rouge area for about a year digging a channel to connect two rivers. He stayed in Zachary and St. Francisville, Louisiana while working on the project. The kids and I traveled there every other weekend to visit. I fell in love with St. Francisville. It is a small, southern town that has remained almost completely untouched by modern influence. I read that when the town put in a McDonalds several years ago it caused a major uproar. The people there are serious about preserving the historical, small town atmosphere. The four lane highway turns into a two lane right before you pass through St. Francisville. Anyway, enough about that....I bought a watercolor by Mr. Lackie of Willie Nelson playing his guitar with an American flag behind it. (I love this painting too, as well as Willie.) I met Mr. Lackie that day. Back to the "Looking Upward" picture..... It has a praying angel in front of a stained glass window. Her head is tilted upward toward heaven. I love the picture so much that I framed it and placed it on the bookshelf in my den. The meaning of the picture to me (I mean the artist himself might have another meaning) is that throughout life.... through the good and bad... our eyes should always be on Him. We should not let the bad things and the minor mess that happens day to day keep our heads down. It is so easy to shift our focus to the depressing, irritating things that happen in our lives. Before long, we have sunk into a miry pit of complaining, bickering, depression, etc. You get the idea. I say all this because today at school I got really irritated about some things. I do not understand students who are not making really good grades and do not seem to care. Their minds are on everything from coloring hall signs, playing on the computer, going to the bathroom, going to call their mama, talking to each other...... all while I am trying to teach them. It is so frustrating. I am so easy going, but I eventually reach my limit. And, I think today I may have reached it. But, I realize no one wants to listen to me gripe about it either. I must tilt my head back up toward God and get my eyes off the minor stuff that bugged me today. And, also, I have decided to start not having pity on those who don't seem to care. Sounds mean, but oh well. It's one thing to want good grades and work for it, and want good grades and not work for it. I for one am sick of those who want something for nothing. Ok.... I am gonna shut up. I promised myself I would not fill this blog post with negativity because well it's just plain...... NEGATIVE.