It’s time to start paying closer attention to the big yellow
buses and blinking school zone signs. There’s excitement in the air, and
depending on who you ask, maybe a little dread too. School can be the greatest
blessing and the greatest challenge all at the same time, for students,
teachers, and parents.
I consider a good education very important and extremely valuable.
I can say that with earnestness now that I’m way beyond my high school years. I
speak from experience because I took it for granted when I was actually going
to classes back then.
Now, mind you, I was not the type to play hooky. I always
did my homework, even as a sophomore when I was homebound for several weeks
with mononucleosis. I remember reading and studying George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”
for an English class report while I was infirmed. My sister took it back to the
teacher when it was completed. I never made it back to that class but still
made an A.
I moved away from my hometown and state years ago, so
geography put distance between me and my high school friends. Some of us have
reconnected thanks to social media. The columns I’ve written for this newspaper
have been posted online and on social media which has given those friends and
opportunity to read them.
One of those friends recently posted a comment online and tagged
my high school American Literature teacher, Mr. Bruce Starnes. So, he saw it
too. It was a little humbling.
It was humbling because even though I finished every single
homework assignment and made nothing less than a B, I never really got it. I
learned what to do to make the grades but somehow missed the point of letting
those lessons shape and give direction to the rest of my life. Yes, the good
grades helped me get accepted into college, but the reality of it is, I was
good at the tasks but clueless about the purpose. Therefore, I had no idea what
I was doing at college once I got there. I got through much of college the same
way.
I am solely responsible for not taking it seriously and for
missing out on what was being given to me. If I had taken even just a little
bit of time to consider the bigger picture of my life along with its potential
length and potency, maybe it wouldn’t have taken me decades to figure it out.
Mr. Starnes replied to that online comment with the notion that necessity
finally ended up being the teacher that I listened to. He’s still passing on
wisdom.
I was blessed with
excellent English teachers throughout my education. I wrote lots of papers and
made good grades, but I never accepted that as the hope and promise for my
life. I can come up with lots of reasons and excuses about why I dismissed it
then, but I see it now. It took me nearly forty years to be able to say, “Yes,
I’m a writer.”
When God spoke to Moses at the burning bush He said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and
have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,
and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the
Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a
land flowing with milk and honey…” (Exodus 3:7-8)
Fast forward a couple of years and you’ll find Moses and the
Israelites standing within eyesight of the land that God had already said was
good and flowing with milk and honey. It was what God had promised them. It was
a place where they would prosper. It was where they were meant to be. It was
their future.
They had survived plagues, hunger, and river crossings to
get there. They had been led and protected by God throughout the entire
journey. Now, there it was right in front of them. It was theirs for the taking,
with only a few obstacles to overcome. They said no, thank you. They let go of
the very thing for which they were spared. They missed the whole point of the
journey and the assignment. They didn’t accept the “good” that God promised
them.
They ended up wandering around looking for it for forty years.
I completely understand that one. The thing is, they didn’t have to, I didn’t
have to, and neither do you. So, sharpen your pencils and listen up. There’s
some good news. God has promised His kingdom to those who will say yes. Saying
yes could spare you the detour and you just might hear Him say, “Well done,
good and faithful servant.”
Originally posted August 14, 2016 on www.walterborolive.com
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