You never know what your spirit of servanthood may produce. Miss Thompson was a 4th grade school teacher who had a student in her class that was listless, academically behind, and generally non-responsive. Teddy had been passed each year without demonstrating the skills that were necessary. Miss Thompson grew weary with Teddy and spoke sharply to him on several occasions but to no avail. Teddy just couldn’t learn. Unfortunately, Miss Thompson had failed to read Teddy’s progress from previous years and was amazed when she finally did so. The teachers wrote, “Teddy is academically inferior and in great need of help....no dad....his mom is sick.....in need of professional counseling..........him mom died........lives with aunt.” At Christmas, each of the kids brought a gift for Miss Thompson. Teddy brought a gift in a brown paper bag with tape holding the bog closed in a rather crude fashion. She opened his gift. The gift was a half bottle of cheap perfume and an old bracelet. Miss Thompson was sensitive enough to put the perfume on her wrist and compliment Teddy in front of the class. Teddy stayed behind after the bell and said, “Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother when she wore it.” Miss Thompson cried all the way home and walked back into the class the next day with a renewed sense of mission. Teddy graduated and wrote to Miss Thompson concerning his progress at the end of his freshmen year, at graduation, and at a final ceremony. She received a note reading, “Miss Thompson, I am graduating soon. I want you to sit in my mother’s chair. You are the only family I ever had.” Signed, Theodore Salvard, M.D. Perhaps you are the only Jesus some people will ever see. -adapted from John Ortberg, South Barrington, IL
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 03:22:10 +0000
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