I had reached the point in my retirement where I had become
a little bored and was open to try something new and different. I still am not ready for a tattoo or a nose piercing. I don’t understand either. I have always been a clean freak. Why would I want something on my skin that I could
not wash off? And as for body piercing,
the older I get the more I have to be pierced by hypodermic needles for medical
appointments. I have discovered that the
only time I really want stainless steel touching my skin is when I grab a
fork. Anyway, there often does come a
time for some retired folks when one gets restless and while not ready to go
back to the work of their former career one is open to try something new. Be careful when that mood arrives.
A friend who directs a school was looking for a person to
teach a small class of 7th graders just one day a week and she asked if I
would be interested in teaching that class.
The subjects sounded like they were in my wheelhouse, well except for
one. I would be teaching classes in Bible. Hey, I do have a Doctorate and 40 years of
studying, teaching and preaching the Bible.
I should be able to handle 7th grade Bible class without much
preparation. I would also teach Writing
and Grammar. I spent 40 years speaking
and writing so I should be OK here as well.
However, the fourth class I would be teaching was Science. In all my years of formal education; elementary,
middle & high school, college, Masters & Doctorate level classes my
lowest grade was a D…in 7th grade science! Where are the red warning lights to signal
trouble when you need them? Sometimes we
just race past them like the guy who jumped from the 50 story building. As he zoomed past a window on the 30th
floor he was heard to say, “So far everything
is fine!”
Anyway I jumped. How
much trouble could it be? It was 7th
grade and only one day a week. It wasn’t
long before I hit the pavement. Wow, I
had to spend the entire week preparing for that one day of teaching. While I could and often did feign my way through some of the Bible, Writing and Grammar classes (Sorry I must confess);
Science was not something I could fake. It
is very humbling when a 7th grade girl catches you making a mistake
in your teaching and politely corrects you in front of the class! Why do I keep having flashbacks to being
intimidated and traumatized by smart girls in middle school? However, as I began to study things I had not
learned well when I was that age, I started to see theology in science that I had
missed in my own 7th grade classes.
Perhaps that was why I lost interest and made a D. Hey, that excuse is as good as any!
I realize, as a product of the Mississippi public school
system, that I may be a little slow on the uptake but I began to more fully realize a
Godly purpose in decay. Microorganisms,
insects and animals are born and are nourished by the death and decay of other
created matter. Nothing created by God
goes to waste. All the garbage on the
planet has been created by man. As I finished
the water I was drinking while studying I looked at the plastic bottle and thought, "Look
how much useless trash and garbage is created by man". Even when recycled much of what man makes
winds up causing more trouble in the long run.
However, nothing created by God is trash and nothing created by God goes
to waste. Everything created by God
serves a useful purpose in the ongoing miracle of His handiwork.
That may not seem so profound to you, remember I went to
school in Mississippi, but that realization opened my eyes to see that everything
in my life that comes me or from mankind may not be useful, in fact often it will
cause more trouble that it is worth, and it will leave residue that may take a
long time to overcome. However,
everything in my life that is from God will eventually work out for His perfect
purpose that will last forever and be reborn into another living miracle.
Every living thing created by God will die. However, every living thing created by God dies
giving life and birth to a new living thing.
Everything living thing, and person, created by God serves a useful
purpose. No thing or no one created by
God is wasteful or worthless. So do not despair
or be overcome with grief when something created by God is perishing, prepare
to rejoice and embrace the birth of something new!
