Hero worship

While I sat here looking up some information on the computer, it really hit home that when you look at the jobs that really matter in life, they all begin and end with a teacher.

I cannot imagine the talent required to create a 'new' way to teach an old concept to the fresh faces that fill a classroom day after day and year after year. Probably that lack of imagination is the reason I didn't go into the teaching profession.

Yet, because of women and men who did choose to teach others, my own life has been immeasureably changed. Oddly enough, not all of those teachers were in the classroom and not all of the lessons that have been shared were graded.

Without the insight and tender sensibilities of women like my sister Xan and my friends Sherri and Beth, the world would indeed be missing some very special teachers. And they are not the only people who have changed my life for the better with their skill in bringing home a point that had circled aimlessly above my poor ability to grasp and comprehend the meaning of what had been presented.

I recall being in science class in either the 5th or 6th grade and having Mrs. Collins for science. She had the absolute ability to open my head and pour the knowledge in distilling forever those priceless lessons that made science my first and most deeply held love.

Sometimes, the information that is shared is a startling moment of crystalline beauty that forever shapes my spiritual growth and development. For these moments, there are no words of thanks that can adequately meet the gift that has been bestowed upon my understanding. Some of the lessons are painful - like forgetting homework and trying to fake my way through the maze of questions in class. Others come as a brilliant gem that brings a radiant light into the darkened corners of my own limited understanding.

It is for these people who have shared themselves in order to teach me that I have the deepest level of hero worship and admiration. For they have done something that truly follows in the steps of the Master.

They have taught at least one of His lost sheep.