I Just Want to Teach Them…
It has been an interesting beginning to this school year. Our town is growing and that means our school population is growing as well. One thing I keep hearing from teachers and school officials across the county is that we have more students this year from families with more challenges. That leads to challenges at school.
In light of all these challenges, teachers are stretching themselves to meet the social and emotional needs of their students before we can try to work on academics. In light of that, I need to repent because of something I have said this year. Multiple times I have made the statement, “I just want to teach them to read!”
While it is true that I want to teach my students to read, that statement isn’t accurate. What I really want to teach them is that they matter. That they have the ability to make choices and control themselves in a way that impacts their future. That there are people in the world who do care. That they can break the cycle of poor choices and have a better life.
In reality, what I most want to teach them is that God loves them. People talk about how limited teachers are in public schools in their ability to stand for God’s word. But I believe that where there is a will, there is a way. We teach God’s love by our actions: providing snacks for a homeless student and his siblings, visiting sick students in the hospital, attending ballgames and recitals, paying for extra school shirts so that all students can have one, hugging the smelly, bandaging the hurt, restraining the out-of-control …
I pray that one day, when my students get old enough to make their own choices in life, they will remember the teachers who loved them enough to show them the love of God. I just want to teach them … love.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
(Matthew 25:34-40)
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AUTHOR: Amber Tatum
