Thursday 10/10/2013 5:12 AM
Today I read from Mark 7 where Jesus is questioned about
why his disciples did not ceremonially wash their hands before eating. Jesus responded by pointing out the hypocrisy
of his accusers, the Pharisees, who followed human traditions rather than
following God. In her book The House of the Soul and Concerning the
Inner Life, Evelyn Underhill writes, “The saintly and simple Cure d’Ars was
once asked the secret of his abnormal success in converting souls. He replied that it was done by being very
indulgent to others and very hard on himself, a recipe which retains all its
virtue still. And this power of being
outwardly genial and inwardly austere, which is the real Christian temper,
depends entirely on the use we make of the time set apart for personal religion.” Finding that balance of outward geniality and
inward austerity is difficult.
As a teacher I want my students to achieve their highest
potential and I often struggle with how indulgent I should be to my
students. Trying to balance the right
amount of discipline and the right amount of grace is difficult for me to
do. As a student I was very hard on
myself. I had high standards that I
wanted to attain and I did everything in my power to meet those standards. I expect the same effort from my students and
when I see them getting distracted from their goals by their friends or their
choices on how to use their free time I become frustrated. It is hard to be genial and indulgent when I
see them frittering away their opportunity for success, knowing those kinds of
opportunities do not present themselves all throughout one’s lifetime. When push comes to shove my students have to
have intrinsic motivation to succeed but I sure wish I could will that
motivation into their lives.
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