Pen poised…Why do I teach?
Why, Do I teach?
Why? Do I? Teach?…
I found myself rolling the thought around my doodle pad– my mind, my heart, my soul.
Reflective, I contemplated the years I have taught.
I felt challenged afresh to examine the reasons and I realized that the teaching journey started in a shallow stagnant, dry, limited pool. Now, years later, I find myself in a deep ink-well of diverse, creative rich purpose.
At sixteen I had no purpose. I faced a vague future with no sense of what to write on the pages of my life. The journey began with filling in a form with a ball point pen; the chance of a bursary. It seemed like an option .It was available. The ink spluttered, stopped and started. At 21 I had completed my degree with little clue of what would soon become my passion; my ‘Life’s Work’.
Years later-by God’s grace, in hindsight, I now know that: Anne planned in her heart (sort-of) but the Lord determined Her steps.
I now have to acknowledge that God must have intervened on my life choices even without my consent. He knew the days ordained for me- the days written in His book- ‘My God Purposed Life’s Work’!
That is why I teach.
Out of that revelation and insight I determine to write HOPE daily, through a smile, a fun lesson, a gentle word, a firm correction, a dynamic, creative, relevant lesson and a keen sense of humour. I have begun to recognize that if I can bring a sense of purpose through ‘ Life Word’s’ to someone, then I have brought meaning to those walking on a bumbling, directionless path to nowhere.
Like the often told ‘star fish’ story-I teach because it makes a difference to that one’s life story!
I teach because those children become my letters known and read by everyone!
They are “My life’s Work” .They in turn, will write on the hearts of others…and they too can become hope bringers. I determine to write well so they too can ‘write’ well.
My dad penned these words for me once: ‘A pen can write many things but not of itself –The one who holds the writer determined directs its course across the page-and whether for good or ill the ink will flow.’
I as a teacher, I recognise that I am a pen in the hand of God. I try to use “Spirit led” [sic] It is infinitely better than anything I can produce. I am called to inscribe His wisdom on hearts, with patient and deep understanding. I am called to write truth on the hearts of the young-not with the letter but with the life of the Spirit!
This sense of ‘writing purpose’ on the tablets of human hearts, is about understanding that the World View we as teachers write, will determine what future pen writers will do when they sit with their pens poised above the blank page of another’s life.
I want my ink to flow for God’s: “You wrote well!”
There is no better motivation and that is why I teach.
[Teacher: 1985-2011 and beyond]
Greater grace now 