The Classroom of Life - Pam Seulean

In my 21 years of teaching, it has often struck me how school is just a little paradigm of life! The attitudes and ethics in the classroom reflect those which people have in life. Case in point….

                We do not have a “traditional school.” We use a video teaching curriculum. So, we have multiple grades in each room. For the most part though, all the students do interact with one another at times during the day.

                One day, I overheard a third grader disdain a kindergartener’s work. “Oh, that’s SO EASY! I wish my work was that easy.” Of course, the sixth grader immediately scoffed, “You think YOUR work is hard?? Wait until you get to sixth grade!” Whereupon the 11th grader in the room piped up with scorn, “Dude. You have no idea. Take a look at this chemistry equation I had today!” (And I wanted to tell HIM that, chemistry and all, his life is so simple compared to an adult’s life!)

                And so it goes in life.

                We may think we have it hard, while someone could be looking at us WISHING their life was as easy as ours. I believe there are two life lessons to learn here.

                First, that kindergartener’s work IS hard- to HER! Mastering a cursive “p” is just as difficult to the five-year-old as the chemistry equation is to the junior in high school. Those of us who have already learned to color inside the lines must remind ourselves that we, too, had to LEARN that. We should be very careful with new Christians, and those who are newer than we are. Having a “They should really know better by now” attitude is not helpful. THEY ARE LEARNING! Please don’t discount the newer Christians; instead, treat them like a kindergartener and encourage, praise, and help them.

                Secondly, every one of us should understand that in some area of our own lives, we are that sixth grader. We have come to a point where we can say, “This truly is hard!” But just think--- there is a junior over there with a big, scary chemistry equation. Then an adult to whom the whole school scene is a drop in the bucket! In other words, we should strive to remember: This is what God has for me at this level. I CAN succeed in this and there will be another level to master, then another. I must focus on my own work and not another’s.

                1 Corinthians 13:11 “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

                It is time for Christian women to stop thinking like children. We must not disparage others who are in a different “grade.” We should continuously strive to pass our own tests!