I had the opportunity to sub teach in Sunday School this last Sunday for the 16 year old class of boys & girls. Goof that I am I prepared all week Lesson #32 for the Primary age children. I didn’t realize my mistake until 10 am Sunday morning while doing my last ‘run through’ of the class material. No wonder the notes the teacher sent me didn’t match the lesson material?? So through gritted teeth and with flying fingers put to my keyboard, I dove into the correct lesson material with only a couple of hours prep time!
They were prepared and very well behaved students who wanted to be in Sunday School that day. I had a great time & sincerely hope I had a positive effect on them! If I did, it was because at the very beginning of my class prep in the lesson material, I was presented with this thought, “Will you work to teach this lesson or will you work to change lives?”
OhMyGoodness!!! That thought burned right through me!?! In an instant I realized that my approach with assignments to ‘teach a lesson’ clearly lacked this needed imperative! Previously I was obsessed with becoming well acquainted with the lesson material; with investigating every part & extension of it. I always felt driven to examine all possible sources & anticipate every possible question & prepare an answer to it. When I completed all that study, I would then go back to the lesson directive & review all the material & finally design my outline for my presentation. I thought, ‘Perfect!’ What more could one do?
With this new awareness I approached the lesson material. I came away with a different understanding of how to present ‘the lesson plan’. I viewed the material with a new insight; one that looked further, beyond the mark of the facts. One that would help me present new values to the full measure of the principle. It changed my whole perception of presentation. I moved from details to concepts. I spoke of interfacing values that included interesting points of fact. I scooped up their minds & swept them along in a voyage of discovery … one that allowed them to place themselves inside the picture & choose action. I gave them opportunities that they previously didn’t know that they had. I gave them tools to ‘change their lives’ if they wanted. I taught precepts, not only facts. It was a wonderful, teaching experience for me.
This morning my sister called me to discuss her frustration in family metrics. She is raising her three grandchildren as wards of the State of Oregon. The State was placing her in the position of having to choose between grandsons. They threatened to revoke her state license if she did not separate the two boys based on treatments each was receiving which were diametrically opposed programs in the eyes of the State. To say that she was frustrated & fighting mad would be an understatement.
I was able to introduce to her my new discovery in correlation to her situation. I said that the State attorney, which she was working with, seemed more intent on running the program than in meeting the needs of the children. She took great comfort & hope from that understanding! It gave her verbal ammunition with which she could argue her status with the State agencies. It empowered her to see the full picture, the true concept of her battle & renew her commitment to the health of her family!
Serve the One. The Ninety and Nine. The Prodigal Son. Conversion (change of heart) is active & nurtured in each heart. It is personal … the most intimate action capable. If the heart cannot be reached, there is no change. Do not waste your allotted time in worthless activity … touch people’s hearts always. To affect hearts, one at a time, is to affect the world, one heart at a time. Who within your influence needs to have their heart touched? What can you do to change the heart of the world?
“I am only one, but still I am one,” Helen Keller.
"Example Faith, Spread Hope, Practice Charity … you can touch hearts," Sande Mitchell.
