By Doug Creamer

I love being a teacher. I retired from teaching and I am still teaching part-time. It’s in my blood. I teach my students to think about something that they love doing and see if there is a career related to that. If they can find a job working in that profession they will never have to go to work. They will get to do what they love.

I tell my students if the thing they love is illegal or immoral then they need to choose a different career path, which always brings a laugh. I also explain to my students that there are always tasks in every career field that no one wants to do. That shouldn’t disqualify a career path. Focus on the parts you love and sink your energy there.

There is nothing like helping and watching a student learn a task or skill for the first time. It is so rewarding to see students learning. I can’t contain the joy when I help a student pass a test, learn a skill, achieve a goal or help them believe in themselves. There is no greater reward than seeing your students succeed.

In teaching, there are special moments called teachable moments. Teaching occurs every day across the globe as students enter classrooms. A teachable moment occurs in those rare moments when the teacher has every student in the palm of their hand. Something can be taught in that moment that will last a lifetime. A good teacher recognizes that moment and never wants to squander it.

Most teachable moments are special times a teacher treasures. There were several days in my career that I dreaded the lesson I was expected to teach. Consider 9/11. Imagine the Monday after a student was in a serious car accident that left him in the hospital for weeks. The hardest day was after a student passed away. Students look to the adults in their lives to explain why bad things happen. They want teachers to help them understand. Those were long days filled with moments I want to forget.

Life is not always easy and it is filled with many ups and downs. God’s best lessons are taught as we walk through hard situations. For example, going through some financial struggles allows God to teach us that He is Jehovah Jireh, our provider. We can depend on Him to come through for us. I am a firm believer that we have to do our part in the process, but in the end He is the One who provides for us.

There are many lessons in the Bible waiting for us to learn. It is how we approach the Bible and even God Himself that will determine if we can learn the lessons. The Bible is filled with many great stories of what others have gone through. We can learn the lesson from those stories so when God puts us in similar situations we will know that we can trust Him to help us in the same way.

I think we also have to realize that God is alive and active in our lives. He is a good Father who wants to teach us more about Himself and who He is in our lives. That means that He will set up a lesson for us. Some lessons are simply learned by reading the stories in the Bible. Other lessons require us to apply what we have learned to our lives. Those are harder lessons and require us to exercise our faith. We have to believe God’s word and His promises to us. In addition, we have to trust Him in and through that process.

Many of the application lessons require us to understand that God’s ways are not our ways nor are His thoughts our thoughts. Many spiritual lessons are hard and will challenge us to grow stronger. Weight lifters will tell you that growing muscles requires straining. To grow spiritual muscles will push you to your limits of faith and trust.

I want to encourage you to engage with your Father in Heaven, who wants a personal relationship with you. He wants you to know His heart, which is always for you. He wants you to know Him as your loving Heavenly Father. He also wants you to know Him as a teacher who will give you some easy and some hard lessons. You have to open your heart to learn from Him and know that you can trust Him. There are many teachable moments with God. All of them are designed to reveal Himself more and more to you.

Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041 or doug@dougcreamer.com.