Today’s Readings: Psalm 26; Joshua 1:10-18; John 4:27-42; 1 Corinthians 5:1-5; Psalm 141
I spent the first six years following my graduation from college teaching in a juvenile detention center. When I took the position, many of my loved ones were concerned for they knew I would be working with many violent offenders. I never had a problem dealing with behaviors from the students, however. That’s probably because I learned an important lesson early in life: “If you treat people with respect, they’ll usually return the favor”. The most difficult aspect of teaching in the detention center involved something else. You see the average stay of students was around 2 weeks. The shortest stay was one day and the longest was 9 months. This meant we had a constant turnover in the student population. In the six years I worked there, I must have taught over 7,500 students! The greatest challenge I had was in giving the students all I had and never knowing if my efforts made a difference in their lives. To use the language from the parable that Jesus quoted in today’s reading from John – I never knew if I was a “sower” or “harvester”. While it was hard to teach from this place of uncertainty at first, over time I got use to not knowing the outcomes of my encounters with students. Finally - by my sixth year - I learned not to worry about the outcome at all. The joy I found each day simply from the act of teaching and being with the students was enough. So where are you at with these issues in your own life? Are you okay with the idea of being a sower that plants the seeds that God ultimately brings to fruition, or do you have a need to try to take ownership for the outcomes yourself? Til next time…
I spent the first six years following my graduation from college teaching in a juvenile detention center. When I took the position, many of my loved ones were concerned for they knew I would be working with many violent offenders. I never had a problem dealing with behaviors from the students, however. That’s probably because I learned an important lesson early in life: “If you treat people with respect, they’ll usually return the favor”. The most difficult aspect of teaching in the detention center involved something else. You see the average stay of students was around 2 weeks. The shortest stay was one day and the longest was 9 months. This meant we had a constant turnover in the student population. In the six years I worked there, I must have taught over 7,500 students! The greatest challenge I had was in giving the students all I had and never knowing if my efforts made a difference in their lives. To use the language from the parable that Jesus quoted in today’s reading from John – I never knew if I was a “sower” or “harvester”. While it was hard to teach from this place of uncertainty at first, over time I got use to not knowing the outcomes of my encounters with students. Finally - by my sixth year - I learned not to worry about the outcome at all. The joy I found each day simply from the act of teaching and being with the students was enough. So where are you at with these issues in your own life? Are you okay with the idea of being a sower that plants the seeds that God ultimately brings to fruition, or do you have a need to try to take ownership for the outcomes yourself? Til next time…
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