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2 Corinthians 4:16
Good News Translation
(GNT)
16 For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our
physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day
after day.
When I was in my thirties and forties, I would look in the
mirror and say to myself, “You don’t look like you’ve aged at all.” Being a
teacher, my students wouldn’t let me get away with that for even a second. One
look at me told them I was way out of their league, and they had subtle and not
so subtle ways of letting me know it, too. Now, at twice that age, I look in
the mirror and wonder who that old guy with sparse white hair is who is looking
back at me.
A couple years ago I bumped into a fellow math teacher from
another university. I asked him how he was. He smiled and said, “Great! I’m
retired and loving it.”
“Why did you retire?” I quizzed.
“When I saw that it was literally taking me twice as long to
take care of the paperwork on my desk than it used to, I decided it was time to
retire.” He said this in all seriousness.
“I understand all too well,” I empathized.
As I look back at my teaching methods early on, I sometimes
shudder. I treated my students the same way my teachers had treated me. I’m
aware that I sometimes was too harsh on them. I like to think that I became a
more caring person as I matured. Indeed my spiritual being was being renewed on
a gradual day after day basis.
Thank You, Almighty
Father, that you haven’t given up on me, or anyone else, but still work with us
daily.
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