Previous Reflections
REFLECTIONS
June 8, 2008
Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.
Deuteronomy 32:2
Teachers
Mema was a teacher. So were two of my great-aunts, Auntie and Aunt Jennie. There are many other teachers that have come into my life, and in reflection, I have come to admire them all. Our friend Philip has come to stand high among them.
We have written of him before, but as time has progressed, Philip has become a teacher in our lives. He is a lonely man, a romantic, highly educated and articulate. The unconventional life he lives is curious. Perhaps it comes from his endless search for the ideal, or that he feels himself a victim of his birth; or maybe it arises from disappointment that his potential, as he perceives it, has not been fulfilled. But Philip should suffer no disappointment. His mission in life is likely what he is doing now.
In a recent letter to us, he quoted from the book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Here is the quote, “You’ve got to look and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and get them to see it in themselves. That’s what I mean by love.” Then he continued, “Today I am devoted to that last part: ‘and get them to see it in themselves.’”
Philip has a keen interest in the people around him and he has a passion to share the warmth and joys of life he has found through nature and in the writings about it. From nature he has learned much about himself, other people, and the wonders of God’s presence in this world. Now as a teacher, his eyes dance when he introduces his discoveries that reveal how God’s beautiful world is so full of love.
Our world is blessed by teachers like Philip. Though he may feel that time has passed him by, it has not. He still seeks insight into the real person, to see the good in every one of them. And just as he has done most of his life, he gets them to see it in themselves. It’s his expression of love.
No matter how unconventional our lives may seem, we are all called to love; and we are called to become teachers of it. The very purpose in a teacher’s life is to shower knowledge like dew falling on tender plants, and to nurture it into understanding. With understanding the real person can be seen, the good in every one of them; and then we get them to see it in themselves.
That’s what we mean by love.
“You are the light of the world,”
Richard Ì
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