The Gift of Change

During today's lesson on relevant ways to teach stoichiometry concepts, a visitor from an education political action group walked into class and was allowed a few minutes to share his concerns. He had a particular interest in engaging the business sector in funding educational pursuits and was hopeful that strengthening this link would allow for a positive push in science education. He was particularly interested in helping teachers develop a modeling approach to their teaching curriculum and implied that older teachers were resistant to this change. At this point in his speech, he said something that particularly caught my attention, "You know, we just have to wait for these old teachers to die, because they aren't going to change."

That was a pretty strong statement on his part, and my classmates and I gasped in astonishment that he held such adament feelings on the subject. As I reflected on this mini-lecture with another classmate later in the day, I realized that I just don't approach life at all like this educational activist. I refuse to believe that it is only death that brings change to a person's character or actions. How miserable would it be to think that only in death would the world be saved from your misgivings?

One of the most fundamental hopes of my life is that God is mighty to work within me His character, even when that comes at the expense of me changing. Change is hard and change is painful, but how hopeful life is when we recognize what is impossible to man is possible to God!