Faith

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The summer winds blew warm. Children played. A teacher was needed to fill a space left empty. With no experience, I heeded the call. The fourth grade Sunday School children I taught that summer are now adults. Several remain close friends to this very day.

I learned many things from "my children". They taught me to accept my disability with my head held high. I was their teacher. They were my students. And it was my responsibility to teach them. At times, we put the lesson aside and talked. We shared our ups and downs, our fears and sorrows. Those moments aren't soon forgotten. The smiles and the tears. Some of "my children" were from divorced and separated families, while others dealt with the separation of military families.

In a short time, I'd become more than a teacher. I'd become "Mom" to them. They trusted me with the innermost thoughts of a nine year old. Success or failure on a math or spelling test. Their secret crushes on the cute boy or girl in their classroom. Me teach children? They taught me plenty about life. I'd experienced my own difficulties when I was their age but unfortunately, I didn't have a teacher to help me over the rough spots of life. "My children" were my teachers.

I was Tony's teacher, too. I met Tony in a youth Bible Study which met after our early morning service, every Sunday for nine months.

Each year at Christmas time, a "Secret Pal Tea" honored the teachers. The year I taught the youth, I had a "secret pal". It became obvious early on, my "secret pal" was young, probably one of my own students. "My pal" lavished me with the sweetest notes of appreciation and poetry. At the time, oblivious as I was that someone so young could feel such joy and passion in the sentiments he wrote, young Tony was a budding poet. Dismissing all thoughts that it could've been him, I was surprised and flattered when I learned it had indeed been Tony who'd shared his friendship and part of his life with me.

I've taught children from nine to eighteen. One thing is true of all of them -- they needed someone to love them. And love them I did and always will. Me teach children? They taught me.

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