A Story with Flesh
I was thinking about high school this morning. Specifically about my 10th grade English teacher, Mrs. O'Brian. I also had her for Spanish for two years. I was blessed with a couple of good English teachers during high school; she was one of them. She was hard, but the good ones usually are.
I was remembering a particular writing assignment she gave us. We were dealing with abstract concepts. Mine was on dishonesty and cheating. I thought I wrote a fine paper. It was sufficiently preachy and virtuous. She gave me a C. And she told me she was disappointed with the quality of the work. Then she went on to explain.
There was a boy who sat next to me in Spanish class. He was a poor student. And he was a dishonest student. Dealing with him as my "study budy" and classroom neighbor was difficult. I didn't dislike him, I was assigned at times to help him, but I also didn't want him to compromise my own standards. Looking back, I see that this student was challenging for Mrs. O'Brian too. Anyway, she told me that I had concrete real life experience that I could have incorporated into the paper, and I failed to do that. Her advice has stuck with me, and to this day in my writing I try to "flesh out" whatever concept I'm trying to get across.
This morning, as I walked and thought about this, I realized that Mrs. O'Brian was conveying an important Christ principle to me those 30 years ago. After all, isn't that what He did? God gave us principles to guide our lives, and then He gave us Christ to see how those flesh out. Of course, Jesus did much more than that (the Atonement comes to mind), but it was part of His ministry.
Furthermore, it's my ministry as well. I can talk all day about feeding the poor, but if my wallet stays closed or my oven off, I'm hardly walking out the Gospel. I can pray for the orphans, but do I know if there are any fatherless among the people I live near?
You know, God is an amazing Being. He continues to give us stories with flesh. He speaks to us all the time through real people, things and circumstances as well as through His Word. Sometimes it doesn't even take us 30 years to figure them out.
I was remembering a particular writing assignment she gave us. We were dealing with abstract concepts. Mine was on dishonesty and cheating. I thought I wrote a fine paper. It was sufficiently preachy and virtuous. She gave me a C. And she told me she was disappointed with the quality of the work. Then she went on to explain.
There was a boy who sat next to me in Spanish class. He was a poor student. And he was a dishonest student. Dealing with him as my "study budy" and classroom neighbor was difficult. I didn't dislike him, I was assigned at times to help him, but I also didn't want him to compromise my own standards. Looking back, I see that this student was challenging for Mrs. O'Brian too. Anyway, she told me that I had concrete real life experience that I could have incorporated into the paper, and I failed to do that. Her advice has stuck with me, and to this day in my writing I try to "flesh out" whatever concept I'm trying to get across.
This morning, as I walked and thought about this, I realized that Mrs. O'Brian was conveying an important Christ principle to me those 30 years ago. After all, isn't that what He did? God gave us principles to guide our lives, and then He gave us Christ to see how those flesh out. Of course, Jesus did much more than that (the Atonement comes to mind), but it was part of His ministry.
Furthermore, it's my ministry as well. I can talk all day about feeding the poor, but if my wallet stays closed or my oven off, I'm hardly walking out the Gospel. I can pray for the orphans, but do I know if there are any fatherless among the people I live near?
You know, God is an amazing Being. He continues to give us stories with flesh. He speaks to us all the time through real people, things and circumstances as well as through His Word. Sometimes it doesn't even take us 30 years to figure them out.
posted by Kaye @ 7:18 AM
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