Thank You, God, For My Teachers

     At our Thanksgiving service at church last night, the emphasis was on being thankful for educators.  Members of the congregation were invited to take the microphone and make comments and here is a slightly expanded version of what I said.

     I thank God for Miss Bizzell, who put up with no nonsense in her classroom and read stories out of the Bible and made them come alive.

     I thank God for Mr. Shoaf, who taught me algebra and the value of preparation.  He taught me how to approach and decipher word problems and to actually enjoy them.

     I thank God for Mrs. Wylie, who taught me how to diagram sentences and to pay attention how words go together.  She also read us stories about the rural South that somehow kept a classroom of 4th and 5th graders quiet and still as the school day wound down.  Judging by her choice of stories, I think Jesse Stuart must've been her favorite author.

     I thank God for Mrs. Keefe, who had to have many serious conversations with my mother (I read a book by Tony Danza a few years ago entitled, I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had, and if Mrs Keefe was alive today I'd contact her and apologize for all the aggravation I caused her).  I thank God for her tough questions, high expectations, and also for believing in me and motivating me to do better.

     These grade-school teachers imparted content, but they also trained me by how they taught.

     Finally, I thank God for my patients, who teach me things everyday.  They tell stories and, in a sense, pose word problems.  They expect me to come prepared, and if I don't know the answer to a question, they expect an explanation of how we're going to find the answer.   They expect me to communicate clearly.  Most surprisingly of all, they believe in me and this certainly motivates me to keep trying to do better.