A Fulfilled Life

Sunday 8/19/2012 7:26 AM

Tomorrow is the first day of my fall semester.  My classes are all set and ready but, as usual, I have a nervous feeling inside that has been my constant companion at the beginning of each semester throughout the years.  When I first began teaching the uneasiness was generated primarily by doubt in my teaching ability, could I adequately fulfill the responsibilities of my job and explain the topics I would teach in a way the students could understand.  Thirty-five years of experience has given me confidence in my teaching ability, so that is no longer the source of my anxiety.  Now I am more aware of the brokenness and pain that many of my students experience regularly.  I wonder how many of them will enter my classroom, isolated, lonely and devoid of hope.  All of my students could benefit from knowing that God loves them, that he cares about them and that he wants them to live their lives fully.  But too many of them have warped images of who God is and who his people are from personal experience or from the portrayal of God and Christians in modern media.  I want them to see an example of a fulfilled life, lived in harmony with God and people with the support of a loving community.  I pray regularly that I can be that kind of example for my students, showing them that it is possible to live that way in the real world.

Part of my assigned reading includes Psalm 106:4-5.  When I read it today I imagined that it was a prayer of someone outside the family of God who wants to be a part of it all, perhaps one of my students who is praying when they see my fulfilled life lived before them.  “Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them, that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise.”  Too often we, in the Christian community, try to evangelize by telling people they are going to hell when they die and that, if they repent, someday they will end up in heaven instead.  In reality, when one repents from sin their life is changed now, not just in the sweet by and by.  The pain and brokenness of people’s lives doesn’t disappear but it can be faced with the help of a loving God and caring community instead of having to face everything alone.  That is what I want for my students but I am uncertain about how best to communicate that to them in the context and confines of my math classroom.

The opening and closing prayers of my devotional book seem perfect for me as I begin my new semester.  “Almighty God, who always moves with clarity of will and singleness of purpose, help me to live and work with certainty in an uncertain world.  Light a lamp before me so that my feet do not stumble.  Make my path clear so I may never wander from your chosen way.  Send me, Lord, as an evangel of hope and security to those whose paths will cross with mine this day.”