The Plaque

Dear Little Sis,
As I think about this time of the year and all the gifts that are received, I thought I'd share with you a story about a gift I received many years ago. It is one of my prized possessions.

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The children filed out of the classroom one and two at a time, the parents were standing at the door, another morning of teaching Children’s Church had come and gone. This Sunday, I felt a sense of disappointment. The class hadn’t gone as planned. The children weren’t misbehaving, but they seemed a little preoccupied. I didn’t feel like I had got the main point of the lesson across and it hadn’t gone smoothly. I had forgotten to say things I wanted, I seemed to be stumbling for words, and my multi-media presentation had fell flat.

 I said my goodbyes to the children, complimented them on their hard work and gave out a few hugs. I then took mental inventory of my class preparation and thought I could have spent a little bit more time on it. What was the point of my lesson? I wasn’t sure if I had one. I concluded that I would do better next time.

When I got in my car, my husband asked, as he always did, how the class went. I answered with, “not very well”. He could tell I was feeling a little discouraged, so he gave me a good pep talk and we headed for home.

While on the road, my mind wandered to Sunday School Teachers I had as a child (the days before Children’s Church). A name from the past immediately popped into my mind, Mrs. Beavers. She was a great teacher!...but why? I then realized that I couldn’t even remember one thing she had taught me. How good of a teacher could she have been if I didn’t remember anything? Oh, it must have been the plaque she gave me, that is still treasured in my home, that’s why I thought she was so great. But I couldn’t remember why I had gotten the plaque; did I win a contest or was I rewarded for my attendance? Maybe I memorized the most Bible verses. But nothing came to mind. What was it I did remember about her?  A HUG. Yes, one simple hug in a parking lot while standing next to my mom. There were not too many hugs given out in our home, but that one from Mrs. Beaver “squeezed the daylights” out of me. A hug that has lasted a lifetime and is still remembered when I look at the plaque given to me for some unknown reason.

It would be years later, as an adult, that my mother would share with me that Mrs. Beaver had all of her life been married to a non-Christian man, a man who lived a sinful lifestyle, a burden she carried to the end of her life. But this burden never stifled the love she had to share with others.

I reconsidered my morning, maybe this class hadn’t gone so bad, maybe a young heart was touched and love was given and received. Maybe the children wouldn’t remember the point of the lesson, but maybe they would remember the love.

 By the way, what does my treasured plaque say?”

 Only one life 'twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last. "To me to live is Christ” Philippians 1:21