Note: The last few days of this series, I will share stories of those that have influenced my own. I am forever grateful to God for each of them.
It was Bible class. The class that most of us seventh graders checked out of because, after all, we heard it all the time. Give us a test with questions like, “Who was Moses’ mother?” and “What are the three Greek meanings of the word ‘love’ in the New Testament?” and we could ace them every time. We had even heard Ken Ham speak on a field trip, so we could answer, “Who was Cain’s wife?” and other Genesis questions.
But our Bible teacher had something different in mind. The first day of class he told us, ” This year, I’m going to teach you how to think.” We sat up and listened. How to love your enemies? Check. How to memorize Bible verses five minutes before class? Got it covered. What to think about? Philippians 4:8, of course. How to think? Hmmm…we weren’t pulling up a reference on that one.
That teacher was true to his word. Although I didn’t agree with him on every conclusion, I learned that year how to question. And more importantly, how to find answers.
As a teacher of my children, one of whom is now in seventh grade, teaching them to think is one of my biggest goals for them. If I could be exactly the teacher I wanted to be, I would also teach them to love books like my second grade teacher did. I would teach them to memorize facts like my fourth grade teacher did. I would guide them to love music like my piano teacher did. I would encourage them through the hard subjects like my high school math teacher did. I would keep order like my high school English teacher did. And I would be their friend like my Spanish teacher was to us.