Individualized Treatment

**Because of confidentiality, I have changed the names and other information in this post to protect the boys I dearly love!

In the last week, I have come home to my husband bragging about how awesome my job is, and in tears ready to put in my two weeks notice. I absolutely love what I do, the people I work with teach me constantly, and I am pushed to limits I didn't know existed about every five-ten minutes.
Without spinning off specifics, I work with teenage boys in a private boarding school who are overcoming various struggles in life. They come from various parts of the world with different family backgrounds, religious beliefs, and personal values. Each boy couldn't be more unique and different. Our job is pretty simple, we are to provide a healthy relationship that can influence and motivate each of these boys to make changes and live a more positive life. No pressure.
 Because the boys are so different, (and at that charming age of maturity) it makes for some pretty entertaining interactions. My husband is in the heart of his student teaching at a local high school so we enjoy swapping stories at the end of the day. One of my jobs is to carefully watch each boy and make sure I don't see anything out of the ordinary. They have worked hard with other professionals to pinpoint a few areas that need improvement and it is my job to see how they are applying what they've learned.
Being in treatment is HARD. You are constantly being analyzed and told where you are not measuring up and what areas of your life are keeping you from being successful. Every day is scheduled out for you, you're away from friends and family, and while positive change is the eventual goal, sometimes it seems a little more distant than near. I've kept myself up for hours after my shift ends trying to fill out paperwork on certain boys and pinpoint specific instances where they showed these negative behaviors I was to be watching out for. I had to teach myself to be extremely observant and pay attention to the little things, and not just what was coming out of their mouth.
I've thought about this a lot in terms of the gospel. Are we not all in need of spiritual treatment and a constant analysis of the things that are keeping us from being like the Master? I quickly realized that I was quick to see fault in those teenagers and failed to notice, or strategically set aside, my own. Coming to a humble state of being able to pinpoint my own faults was a process I learned all too well while serving my mission in Chile. I had a wonderful mission president who I love dearly who wasn't afraid to tell me when I wasn't measuring up or when he knew I was capable of so much more. At times, he told me things I didn't like and that initially I found a little offensive. It wasn't until later in my mission that I matured spiritually and saw that he was being an agent in the Lord's hands to help me repent and become more like the Savior. The natural man likes to get upset, offended and justify sin. That's the habit I got into consistently and I am so grateful my mission president was willing to teach me that difficult lesson.
Having worked with those boys has taken me back to the streets of Chile and I have started to look at my own weaknesses a little more closely. I have started "charting" on my own dichotomies and rating how I did during the day. It's a tough spot to come to, rating yourself and admitting when you didn't have a very Christ-like day. But it has changed my life and my relationship with the Lord completely. I come to Him more humbly and more willing to talk about what we can do together to better prepare me for what I need to do in this life as well as come back to Him better prepared. Our relationship is better, more honest and more sincere.