What Did the Lord Give You?

A few weeks ago, I invited you to listen to General Conference with your students in mind. I hope somewhere along the way you heard something that made you think, My students need this.

But I hope you heard something else too.

Something you needed.

Sometimes as teachers, we can get pretty good at listening for everyone else. We read a scripture and think about how we can teach it. We listen to conference and think about which message our students need to hear. We attend training and think about how we can improve our next lesson.

Those are good things. But every once in a while, we need to ask:

What is the Lord trying to do with me?

Teaching begins with the teacher

One of the great principles of consecration is that the Lord isn't oonly asking for our time. He isn't just asking us to prepare a lesson, show up, teach for 50 minutes, mark attendance, and come back tomorrow.

He wants us.

Our time, certainly. But also our abilities, our desires, our willingness to change, and ultimately our will. Consecration means taking something ordinary and dedicating it to a sacred purpose.    

Think about what that means for a semnary teacher.

Your classroom becomes sacred because of what happens there. Your preparation time can become sacred. Your study of the scriptures can become sacred. Even that early alarm clock can become part of something sacred.

But maybe most importantly, you are being changed by the same gospel you are trying to teach.

Don't just collect ideas. Act on them.

Think back over General Conference.

Was there a prompting you had?

Maybe you felt like you needed to pray a little more sincerely. Maybe you needed to spend more meaningful time in the scriptures. Maybe you felt prompted to be more patient, more grateful, more forgiving, or more willing to trust the Lord.

It might not have had anything to do with teaching.

Don't leave that prompting sitting in your conference notes.

Spiritual growth usually doesn't happen all at once. It happens a little at a time as we repeatedly give something more of ourselves to the Lord. Consecration is a process rather than a single moment. Something offered gradually until more and more of our will belongs to Him.    

And I think that matters tremendously for teachers.

Your students will feel the difference

Our students probably won't know what you changed.

They won't know that you decided to pray differently this week. They won't know that you are trying harder to forgive someone, study more meaningfully, or follow a prompting you received during conference.

But they may feel the result.

There is something different about a teacher who isn't simply teaching about Jesus Christ but is actively trying to become more like Him.

Our students don't need perfect teachers.

They need teachers who are becoming.

Teachers who repent. Teachers who listen. Teachers who are willing to change. Teachers who are trying, day by day, to give a little more of themselves to the Lord.

One thing this week

Go back to something you wrote down, highlighted, or felt during General Conference.

But this time, don't ask:

“How could I use this in a lesson?”

Ask:

“What is the Lord inviting me to do?”

Choose one thing.

Then act on it.

Because perhaps one of the greatest things we can bring into our classroom isn't another teaching technique or activity.

It is a teacher who is becoming more converted to Jesus Christ.

That will bless our students in ways we may never completely see.