In so many ways, there is as much, if not more, pressure on teachers than on students. If the students don't learn, it's not always the teacher's fault, but the teacher can be blamed. Good teachers take responsibility for their students, and even though they're aware of many circumstances that make learning difficult for various students, they still care so much that they put pressure on themselves to help students succeed. I feel for so many school teachers today -- they're competing with so many different things vying for the attention of their students, and students have so many pressures from so many different directions, and teachers are trying to break through the noise and affirm and challenge and comfort and guide students. Let us pray for our teachers as well as students.
When I think of Paul, he had a lot of spiritual children that he was raising in the faith, each of them facing numerous and varied challenges. There were rich churches and poor churches and churches with every type of person in them, and he was trying to teach them something completely new to many of them, while the students were often being persecuted. So he sent letters, and he sent people, as he considered himself a spiritual parent, setting an example as well as teaching.
I read once that everyone should have someone they're learning from and someone they're teaching. It's an interesting way to think about the world. Who in our circle of influence can we approach like a student, and who might be a teacher to us, and how do we honor each and both? How do we hold ourselves accountable to a high standard, that we might bring glory to God and provide an example of how to strive to imperfectly follow Christ? How can we be honest about our joys and struggles, and in so doing leave a rich legacy of growing into a faith that is challenged and stretched and mature as we live it out in our everyday lives?
Tough questions that have been wrestled with for thousands of years. We are wise, like Paul, to ask them of ourselves and to look for resources to reinforce the Gospel message of grace, peace, and love.
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