REFLECTIONS

God’s Teachers

Mrs. Carmichael taught eighth grade. I seem to remember that she graded every paper with two scores, the first on the quality of the responses to the test, the second on penmanship. She was a stickler for it.

In those days, we wrote in cursive and Mrs. Carmichael expected every letter to be clearly styled and perfectly aligned with the preceding ones. Because my penmanship was bad, I took slow, deliberate care to draw each letter. Improved penmanship did benefit me with good grades, so, despite her meticulous requirement, I judged her to be a good and caring teacher.

Teaching methods have changed since my eighth grade, but one thing hasn’t. These days it’s called homeschooling, but it has always been around. Always.

Homeschool students didn’t get advancement credit for the “3 rs,” (readin’, ‘riten’, and ‘rithmetic) like today, rather we learned how to live in the conditions we grew up in. We learned how to get by on small budgets; how to entertain ourselves with whatever we found available, and how to care for one another. Families did that. My teachers were Mom and Dad, my grandparents, neighbors next door and neighbors across the way. My teachers delivered ice to our backdoor before refrigerators took their jobs away, my doctor made house calls when I was too sick to leave my bed; and our grocers provided free delivery and charge accounts.

Those teachers didn’t teach the “3 rs,” but I paid attention to what they said, but even more, to what I watched them do. Those teachers and untold numbers of others like them influenced the choices I learned to make; and those choices shaped the way I live today.

Yes, teaching methods have changed since Mrs. Carmichael taught me in eighth grade, but the teachers haven’t. Since the beginning of time, every person is a student, and every person also becomes a teacher. The students often dismiss what they hear, but they absorb every move their teachers make—good or bad.

 Jesus told us to, “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20) But as we go about our lives let’s remember this:

Students are watching.

“You are the light of the world.”

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org

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