My AP English class my senior year of high school was going to be intense.
Everyone talked about how the teacher ran her class just like a college class, and that she would write feedback all over your essays.
But I was excited.
Because for years before this class, my English teachers had always passed back essays with: “Great writing, Cali!” written across the top, with a few “good!”s and “nice!”s sprinkled in the margins.
I mean, I knew I was pretty good at writing.
But I also knew I had room to improve, and I was ready for a teacher who could show me how instead of patting me on the back.
So when my new teacher passed back our first essays of the year, I was ecstatic to find her pen markings all over.
“What a fascinating thesis! Do you ALWAYS think this is true though? What about…”
“This isn’t as strong of a reason as your others. Make sure you’ve got evidence to back it up.”
“This concluding paragraph is FILLED with platitudes. Give more substance.”
THIS was what I had been waiting for.
Someone who knew how to push me.
And I loved how each correction also gave me a way to get better next time.
In a much more serious and all-encompassing way, I am also grateful for a Savior who doesn’t let me coast.
One who calls me out with guilt or with promptings when I’m not at my best spiritually.
One who tells me how to get rid of things that don’t belong anymore.
But my favorite part?
“Whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance”. (D&C 95:1)
He always prepares a way for us to change.
Not just: “Hey, you’re doing this wrong, hope you can figure out how to fix it!”
But He has PREPARED and PLANNED a way for us to improve.
He has already sweat and bled for the consequences, and now He invites us to get back on the right track.
I’m grateful for a writing teacher who helped completely prepare me for writing at the college level by teaching me how to be better.
And I’m even more grateful for a Savior who takes the time to chastise me, and prepares a way for me to become even more like Him.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
4 Responses
I am teaching 14-15 year old Sunday School. It is a new calling and way out of my comfort zone. I just want to reach these kids and be able to give a lesson without crumbling. Please help me. I always just crumble
You got this! If you’re interested, I have a teaching teens course that is incredibly helpful with planning lessons!
Thanks for this. i had never thought about guilt being a way of not letting e coast through life. I’m really going to give more thought to the times I feel guilty and just what it is that the Lord is trying to tell me.
<3