Church and Teaching
"Be what you would have your pupils be. All other teaching is unblessed mockery." -Thomas Carlyle
This is a quote that my pastor shared during her sermon this morning. Her words struck a chord with me. I have always loved Pastor Sandy's sermons and teachings. She is a former teacher herself and has been a great influence on my life for the past 10 years or so. I found out that she will be retiring in July, which made me a little sad, but I am thankful and blessed to have been inspired by her words and her actions.
A lot of our service today revolved around teaching and being a disciple. Sometimes in life, there are these moments where you just have an epiphany. When I was listening to her stories and the bible verses we read today, I realized that I truly am doing what I was meant to do. I struggle sometimes with whether I want to stick with teaching, but I cannot imagine myself doing anything else. Pastor Sandy shared another story about a graduate study done at Johns Hopkins. They studied a group of 200 students in a lower-income, tough neighborhood and made predictions about where these students would end up in 25 years. 25 years later, a new group of graduate students tracked down these same students. Originally, it was predicted that 196 out of the 200 would end up doing jail time or going "down the wrong path." After those 25 years had passed, the new graduate students were able to track down 180 of the 200 original study members. Of those 180, only 4 had actually served jail time. The other 176 were doing very well and a majority of them (75%) mentioned the same teacher that had inspired them to be great citizens and encouraged them to be successful. They tracked her down in a retirement home and asked her what her secret was. She said it was no secret. She just "loved them like they were her own." That is what I aspire to do as a teacher. Even though I don't have my own kids, I consider my students "mine." Even though they may drive me nuts some days, I can pick out redeeming qualities in all of them. Sometimes as teachers or just members of society, we forget to find the good in people. Pastor Sandy encouraged our congregation to go out and share the word of the Lord and to truly live a life where you are focused on your strengths and bringing out the best in others. Even if I can't "preach" to my students, I hope that they see me as a positive influence in their lives and that through my actions, they are inspired to be better to one another.
I just felt compelled to share all of this with you guys. I hope that you are living your life in a positive way and that you can be an inspiration to others as well. I welcome your comments and questions. :-)
This is a quote that my pastor shared during her sermon this morning. Her words struck a chord with me. I have always loved Pastor Sandy's sermons and teachings. She is a former teacher herself and has been a great influence on my life for the past 10 years or so. I found out that she will be retiring in July, which made me a little sad, but I am thankful and blessed to have been inspired by her words and her actions.
A lot of our service today revolved around teaching and being a disciple. Sometimes in life, there are these moments where you just have an epiphany. When I was listening to her stories and the bible verses we read today, I realized that I truly am doing what I was meant to do. I struggle sometimes with whether I want to stick with teaching, but I cannot imagine myself doing anything else. Pastor Sandy shared another story about a graduate study done at Johns Hopkins. They studied a group of 200 students in a lower-income, tough neighborhood and made predictions about where these students would end up in 25 years. 25 years later, a new group of graduate students tracked down these same students. Originally, it was predicted that 196 out of the 200 would end up doing jail time or going "down the wrong path." After those 25 years had passed, the new graduate students were able to track down 180 of the 200 original study members. Of those 180, only 4 had actually served jail time. The other 176 were doing very well and a majority of them (75%) mentioned the same teacher that had inspired them to be great citizens and encouraged them to be successful. They tracked her down in a retirement home and asked her what her secret was. She said it was no secret. She just "loved them like they were her own." That is what I aspire to do as a teacher. Even though I don't have my own kids, I consider my students "mine." Even though they may drive me nuts some days, I can pick out redeeming qualities in all of them. Sometimes as teachers or just members of society, we forget to find the good in people. Pastor Sandy encouraged our congregation to go out and share the word of the Lord and to truly live a life where you are focused on your strengths and bringing out the best in others. Even if I can't "preach" to my students, I hope that they see me as a positive influence in their lives and that through my actions, they are inspired to be better to one another.
I just felt compelled to share all of this with you guys. I hope that you are living your life in a positive way and that you can be an inspiration to others as well. I welcome your comments and questions. :-)
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