When your child first prays aloud, your heart leaps with the hope that this is the beginning of a life of faith. When a friend thanks God for His care and leading, you are thankful for God using you in your friend’s life. When your student prays for those suffering in Ukraine, you see your own heart reflected in that request.
Education is not simply about learning to read, write and do ‘rithmetic.
“Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they [the commandments] are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers For Your testimonies are my meditation.” (Psalm 119: 98,99)
Education is showing students how to make God’s commandments and testimonies a minute-by-minute experience.
Prayers in Precepts
Last year, our choir prayed for Israel every day we practiced as we prepared to sing “Shalom, Jerusalem.” The night of the concert, a parent was on his phone and announced at the end of the concert that a new peace accord had been signed between Israel and two other nations. What joy to see God answer our students’ prayers!
Today, we prepare Ukrainian songs. We are learning the Prayer for Ukraine, the Ukrainian Bell Carol, and Fanfare from The Gates of Kiev. We then prayed for Ukraine. One of the students, whose father is a student of my mentor, Mr. James Kilkenney, said that the Ukrainians are defending the land that God has given them, and prayed for them to be victorious in their defense. I can hear in my memory, Jim’s patient voice teaching about the Biblical truth that God has given land to us to care for, to labor on, and to inherit.
Another student prayed for the children that God would take care of them. Another student prayed for those who were too old to get into the shelters and get help. I see the influence of parents, of other teachers, and of myself in their lives. These children are ‘. . . my beloved brethren . . . my joy and my crown” (Philippians 4:1).
A Teacher’s Inheritance
Teachers, especially Christian school teachers, do not make much money. I am not the only teacher who has spent years working for free because our vocation is more important than any mere salary.
Christian school teachers on average earn less than their state funded counterparts and earn much less than the average for the area they live in (Christian teachers vs state average).
Our inheritance is not worldly wealth. Our inheritance is seeing our students, and their children, understanding, praying, and applying the truth to their lives. That is eternal and the source of our joy in our labor.
The prayers of the children are a teachers’ inheritance.
