I spent this last week serving as an English teacher in 1st-6th grades. Classes filled each morning with purpose and great joy. We taught the students how to introduce themselves and practiced basic conversations with them. We taught them how to say how they are feeling and how to talk about their families. We practiced speaking English word by word and writing words in English letter by letter. We took time to make sure they were copying the words into their notebooks and knew how to pronounce each thing. We were intentional to make sure they knew what they were learning, so that they would remember it once we left. We wanted it to be knowledge they could hold on to and remember.
There were moments when teaching was discouraging. Having to help 1st graders write by telling them each letter of each word took more time than was planned for a lesson. Encouraging 3rd graders to work together to use the vocabulary they were learning was tiring. Begging 6th graders to not yell over each other when practicing their English was disheartening. While I found such joy in each moment with them, my heart was tired when my desire to teach was not met with an equal desire to learn.
I began to see that this is sometimes the way I meet Christ and His desire for my growth. He is always there, waiting eagerly to teach me. He will meet me right where I am. Sometimes, He sits with me and spells everything out word by word, letter by letter. Sometimes, He waits for me to quiet the noise in my heart. He waits for me to find silence and rest in Him before He speaks to me. Other times, He is waiting for me to come to Him — ready to spend time with me whenever my feeble heart realizes it’s need to be taught by Him.
My heavenly Father is my teacher and my friend. He wants me want to grow and He wants to teach me. He wants me to spend time with Him and He wants me to have the desire in my heart for more and more of Him. He teaches me in each step of my walk here in Nicaragua, in quiet moments, and in subtle examples. He teaches me more of His grace as I learn to be a gracious teacher to my English students. I can only hope that I can have a fraction of His goodness as I teach these sweet kids a few new phrases and words in English.
