The classroom and the teacher
By Bill Shepard
It has been said many times, and this writer is in agreement, that life is a classroom and the teacher’s home is experience!
The classroom is not inside a red brick building, but inside halls of everyday living.
For slow learners such as I, some lessons are taught more than once, and the cost gets higher each time. The cost is paid for, not in currency as we know it, but with regret for the duration of time!
I have been a student inside life’s classroom for a long time and have learned a lot of things.
Those I have found to be most useful, allow me to share them on this page. Here they are …
Life is made up of many and varying experiences. No two days are exactly alike! No tomorrow is exactly the same as yesterday!
I have often thought of life as the weather! One day is bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and everything seems perfect. We stretch and say, “Life is great!”
We retire for bed with great plans for tomorrow, only to awaken the next morning and it’s pouring down rain, windy with no sun in sight!
If all of life was like either of those two days, we would indeed be miserable people!
So the creator who controls them both has so designed them such that we can experience them both and so lead happy lives.
The next time there is a storm in your life, the birds won’t sing, the sun hides its face, buckle up!
Ride out the storm with confidence that tomorrow will be different.
Another important lesson that I learned in life’s classroom is that there are some things in life’s experiences that I cannot change!
We men especially do not like to admit that!
Sooner or later, we must all admit that we are not the macho being we thought we were. Life brings us face to face with that experience beyond our ability to change! You may cry, beg, blame or pray, but nothing changes.
Many have faced a like situation and fought until their own lives were destroyed as well as those about them.
Don’t do it! The sooner we learn that there are some things we cannot change, the happier our lives will be.
There is a story in the Bible that tells about God giving the great Apostle Paul a “thorn in the flesh.”
It so troubled the Apostle that he prayed and asked God to deliver him of it.
After praying a number of times, God said to Paul, “I will not take the thorn from you, but I will give you grace and strength to bear it.”
So go ahead, accept what you cannot change! You will be glad you did.
There is another important lesson I have learned in life’s classroom.
It is an important lesson! We all face it at one time or another.
There are some things in life that I can change, and if I can change them for the better, then I should.
It may be that some things in my own life are hindering my happiness, and if I know that, I should make the change for the better.
If I can assist others in making their lives better and happier, then I should. Pray for guidance and follow through. There are so many unhappy people in our world. If you can bring them happiness, do it!
Yes, life has been a great teacher. Some lessons have been costly, but the benefits have been worth all the cost and more.
