The smile of the children with their warm greetings inspired me as I entered the classroom of our Sunday School, “I can go on for the whole day,” I said to myself as these beautiful faces greeted me while I came in. Excitement fills my heart when I prepared myself for another comical display of Bible characters, stories and games. I am so inspired when the laughter fills the air and hands raising up eager to answer the questions I gave.
I’ve been a teacher for almost ten years in Sunday school, and leader for Sunday special presentation for the offertory. My experience in this ministry is not only fulfilling, what I can say is, this has become a part of my life that I can never live without. Different generations of children who became teenagers passed under my wings, some of them continued their service in the Lord and are very successful in their ministry and career while others lost sight of their track and never came back. I will never forget the last batch of pupils I have handled, I have trained them in dancing, singing, acting and everything that I know I imparted to these students, with confidence that these kids will commit their lives to the Lord, this self-assurance led me to a decision to leave them on their own, I busied myself in my work as a call center agent and I have forgotten that there are people waiting for me, who waited for nothing.
I never thought that a day will come when I have to face the fear of the truth of my negligence. The children whom I cared for were no longer there when I called, I gathered all my resources to assemble them but the fact that their enjoyment in the Lord were replaced by the enjoyment of this world, I tried to rekindle the fire but, it is so sad seeing them go one by one. My heart was broken when I saw these children grew up apart from the Lord; some of them got engaged with drugs, some got involved with homosexual relationship while others suffer from a wrong decision such as premarital sex resulting to unwanted pregnancies and teenage marriage.
I blamed myself for the circumstances that overtook these people, how I wished I could turn back time and prevent it all from happening, I even said to myself that if I could I will build a hedge around them and cover them with my wings so that they need not experience those painful and wrecking situations. The way I blamed myself only led to despair and hopelessness and so God showed me the fact that I cannot change: even if I die as a recompense for my carelessness. I may have neglected my duty as a teacher because of financial obligations to my family, however no matter how hard I tried, a choice is left for them to decide which path they will follow. I don’t need to cry over spilled milk, God has allowed those situations to happen to teach us a lesson and to value the things of the present and of the future. While we can, we have all the power to change the lives of the new generation, lead them to Christ that they may commit their lives in full service, love and devotion to God. Of course, we cannot prevent awful things from occurring, nevertheless, we are somehow prepared because of the lessons we learned from the past.
Today, as I am about to start my new lesson in Sunday school, these thoughts linger in my mind, my heart was filled with hope for the future that amongst these children, a Sunday school teacher, a pastor, song leader, minister, or an evangelist will be born. This motivation encouraged me to carry on the ministry that God has planted in my heart, a reality that we cannot refute that a true teacher is the one that doesn’t give up when her students fail; never leaves her duty even if the financial benefit is not promising as it is; never loose heart when all things fail, a teacher will strive hard and will continue to do so until she sees that there is someone following her track when she looks back. This is the heart of a teacher…
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