At one point in time, I changed careers from accounting and management to teaching. After two years at grad school to study education and language acquisition, I became a licensed ELL (English Language Learner) teacher. Although licensed K-12, over the six years I was in the field, I taught all elementary grades from Kindergarten to 5th grade, and truly enjoyed lesson planning, teaching, and the students.
I loved the students I had over the years who were from many different countries and spoke different languages: Russian, French, Spanish, British English, and Farsi. One year, a particular student stood out to me. Her name was Sophia*.
Sophia was always very quiet and didn't say much to me or her peers. She always tried her best, did as she was instructed, and was always respectful. Neither I nor her classroom teacher had any issues with her behavior or school work. Whenever I had her on my schedule, I would always try to talk to her as I did with all the students, but would not get much of a response. I also noticed that sometimes she would wear the same clothing items a few times within one week. It didn't matter to me but I just wondered...
I had not met either of her parents at any school open houses nor received any requests for parent-teacher conferences on teacher workdays. Then came the day of her regular classroom Christmas party. Many times, when students have field trips or classroom parties, specialty teachers like myself and others do not pull them out for teaching, but join them in the classroom. I had other students in her classroom as well, so I made the rounds visiting each one including Sophia.
Sophia quietly pulled out a small package from her desk, handed it to me, and said it was from her mom. It was not wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper. No bows. No ribbon. She wanted me to open it right then and there, so I did. Inside, I found a beautiful blue crocheted rectangle about 7" x 9". I couldn't figure out what it was for. Perhaps a potholder?
What Sophia said next I will never forget. She said, "My mom made it just for you. She said to tell you thank you. We don't have a lot of money, but she bought some yarn and made it." It was all I could do to hold back the tears! Here was a family just starting out in this country, most likely working low-paying jobs, but working hard to provide for themselves. Money was probably tight. Yet, her mom spent money on the yarn, and spent the time to crochet it for me. I thanked Sophia and told her how beautiful it was and to thank her mom for me.
Besides cute, hand-made gifts from our sons when they were little, and now heartfelt words on cards from them as adults, I had never received a gift with the story behind it that touched my heart so deeply!
I still have this potholder in a kitchen drawer. Each year in December when I pull out Christmas kitchen towels from that drawer, I think of Sophia. She must be an adult now and I wonder where she is and what she is doing. I think of her mom whom I eventually met--a lovely, gentle lady with a beautiful, thankful heart.
That was a meaningful gift that greatly touched my heart, but there was another gift that was given to me long before I was born that changed my life in my 20's. In fact, that gift was for ALL of humankind. All around the world, people celebrate Christmas on December 25. Whether they understand it or not, Christmas is the celebration of Jesus's birth.
He was 100% human and 100% God. Human so that He could experience and identify with all that humans go through, yet He did not sin. It was His great unconditional love for us that caused Him to sacrifice His life on the cross for all of our sins so that we can have eternal life with Him. Sin is simply missing the mark, not meeting up to God's standards. Since He was also 100% God, He rose from the dead after three days.
Do you know Jesus? Do you have a personal relationship with Him? Do you have joy or know the purpose of your existence? If the answer is "no" and you would like to but don't know how, please feel free to send me a direct message. I was in your exact space once.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
*Name has been changed to protect the identity of the student.
No comments:
Post a Comment