Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Illustrate the meaning of "Actions Speak Louder than Words" (without using the actual phrase). (02/21/08)
-
TITLE: The Teacher | Previous Challenge Entry
By DJ Evans
02/23/08 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
He is called by many names, and I don’t want to confuse you as I tell you about him, so I will call him Teacher. My Teacher is someone that I must tell you about, someone whom you should meet if you ever get the chance. This fellow is the kind of man that you should invite into your home for tea if you ever see him walking down your street—you will be amazed at how your life changes with the invitation!
As I began my lessons, the Teacher was patient. He understood that his ways were new to me, foreign, and that I would fail many times before I learned to live as he did. He spoke to us (for I am only one of many students) of taking care of each other and waited patiently for us to learn to do so. In the meantime, he took care of us and showed us how he meant for us to do what he said. He told us to love one another, and loved us with all of his being and told us of the great love that waited for us all when we graduate from this course he teaches. I could not help but wonder how this could be so—I admit that I did not feel worthy—but I have since learned that the lowest of us is worthy in his eyes and it is not for me to understand why this is so.
This great man, this esteemed Teacher, could have commanded any of those following him who knew how wise and indeed powerful he was to do anything, and yet it was he who washed our feet to teach the importance of having a servant’s heart. This great man was like a rock star—he could have charged money for his autograph! Instead, he gave what he had to the poor; he healed the sick and spent his time with children and others considered by others to be less than important. To look the Teacher in the eye is to know humility and greatness at once—it is to know the meaning of greatness of spirit. I cannot tell you the sheer awe of people listening as this man speaks—he holds a crowd as surely in the palm of his hand as a good book enthralls its reader.
I only regret that during the course of my lessons, I do not always understand. I have many doubts—often that I am capable of doing what is asked of me, and fears that I won’t measure up when it comes time to take the Teacher’s test. The greatest lesson, the lesson that made the impact on me that insured forever my place among the Teacher’s students, was the demonstration of love and care that the Teacher made when called upon to stand for the rest of us.
My tears still flow when I hear songs of it. There are passages in books about it that twist my heart and make it ache. I feel at once loved and cherished and unworthy when I think on it.
When called to save a world that was full of sin, full of hate, my Teacher bowed his humble head and went quietly into the night. He walked as they jeered, a crown of thorns upon his head and a wooden cross upon his back, to the place where they would punish him for Teaching. He did not try to save himself and by doing so, fail us. He let them taunt, he let them hurt, he let them throw their stones. He asked that they be forgiven. Then he kept Teaching, even as they nailed him to the cross, he kept giving comfort to those others there with him. The lesson learned for any watching at this time was grace.
Any reading this story that are saddened by what the Teacher’s fate came to be, take heart. The story doesn’t end here. I am too busy with my lessons though at present to write further—let’s catch up later over tea, shall we?
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
