My Teacher

“Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love.” (Ephesians 4:2 NLT).

Recently Lourene and I were blessed by spending several hours at The Serra Retreat Center in Malibu. The center includes several trails and quiet places specifically designed as places of prayer. As I sat at “The Point,” with mountains to my right and behind me, a canyon to my left, and the Pacific before me, a hummingbird hovered inches from my face. God’s glory was everywhere!

In the retreat center office we picked up a sheet with suggested guidelines for how to use the labyrinth for a prayer walk. One of the instructions described how to handle the situation should you encounter someone else while you are walking the labyrinth or if you should be disturbed by children.

“If someone upsets you, that person is your teacher.”

Those words have been bouncing around in my head ever since we left Serra.

The other day, Lourene and I were at Heavenly Ham, standing in line to pick up and pay for the turkey sandwiches we had ordered for lunch. The woman ahead of us finished her transaction and headed for her car. The clerk looked right at me and asked, “May I help you, sir?” As I was answering, a woman pushed in front of me and demanded the clerk get her sandwich first.

Thankfully, Lourene spoke some soothing words in anticipation of my not only being baffled but also irritated by the woman’s selfish rudeness. I did not say another word (or make any kind of grunting noises to express my disgust) until we got into the car. Then I proceeded to replay the event.

“She was not even in the line! Did you see how she jumped in front of me? And then she had the nerve to cut her eyes over at me and smirk as the clerk made her sandwich! The nerve of that woman!”

“That woman is our teacher.”

Those words were no longer just bouncing around in my head. As Lourene spoke them, it was as though God wrote them on my heart.

That woman is indeed my teacher, and I have a lot to learn.

— Bob Clark

5/31/05