Okay, I'm catching up on my homework the day before class.
Psalm 48:1 "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. In the city of our God, His holy mountain."
Today's lesson was more factual in nature. He lets us know that the process we will go through during this study will involve our mind, emotions, and will. We will obtain knowledge of God and experience Him with our emotions, and if we are truly "gripped" make choices with our will that make changes in our behavior.
The activity suggests that we reflect upon a time when we were gripped by God. When I read that statement the first thought was about the time I taught a hands on science class to K-5 kids who were homeschooled through their coop. I know this seems like an unlikely event to "grip" someone. I'll never forget the day when I was in a meeting with other moms evaluating the results to a poll of the group regarding what classes were desired as we started an enrichment program. We were aware of many of the abilities and interests of those likely to be filling teaching positions. I had volunteered to teach higher level math class as that is what my college degree says I'm qualified to teach. But NO ONE wanted higher level math classes. And there was lots of interest in a hands on science class for younger children. All of a sudden, I heard myself say, "I can do that!" The meeting continued and schedules were created including science classes for K-2nd grade and 3rd through 5th grades to be taught by ME!
Later, as reality loomed large, I kept thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?" However, I believed that somehow this was of God and that He wanted me teaching that class. I found myself thinking about what I would teach and just how to get started in most of my free time. Then one day out of the blue, God supplied the outline for the entire year of classes. I grabbed paper and pencil and wrote it all down in about 30 minutes. I was so excited! I felt so certain that He had given this to me.
As the year progressed He provided me with ideas and information and supplies in such a variety of ways I was overwhelmed with how important it was for me to see Him provide. Did I have some responsibility in all of this? Most definitely. I worked very diligently. But if I ever thought it was me doing the class, the ideas disappeared. This year became a very real spiritual journey teaching me dependency on HIM. I learned to pray for direction on every aspect of this class. I realized that anything good was from God almighty.
The culminating event came near the end of the class when we were supposed to study the life cycle of an amphibian. I wanted to show the students as many of the stages of development as possible, but how could I possibly arrange this? I couldn't, but the Almighty God of the University, the creator of all things could! A week prior to the scheduled class, my sons found some tadpoles. Great!! But then during the week, I watched in awe as these tadpoles transformed at different rates such that there were about 3 different stages represented. Then the day before the class, I was offered a full grown toad to take to class. I couldn't believe how God provided all except the egg stage of development at just the right time. Keep in mind the topic of this specific date had been given to me about 6 months previously in the overall year's outline.
I have identified this year and this class as one of the significant events in my spiritual journey. As silly as it all sounds, I saw God provide in fantastic ways. The lasting lesson I learned during that time is that God does care about the little things. He cares about kids and tadpoles. He cares about ME!! I learned that I can do nothing apart from God. I learn to depend upon Him for all that I need.
God, please GRIP me again!! Let me see YOUR greatness!!
2 days ago
