Governess<\/a> pushed him hard and he came up against many of his limitations.<\/p>\nLots of failure on our minds this week.<\/p>\n
Last week in Sunday School, as I was telling the story of the complaining Israelites, who were wandering around the dessert, grumbling about the lack of food, water, and a comfy place to call home, one of my students asked, \u201cHow many chances do you get?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a good question. \u00a0What do you all think?\u201d<\/p>\n
A. raised his hand, and when I called on him he proudly declared, \u201cONE!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReally? \u00a0Just one chance? \u00a0Then what happens?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou go to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh my. \u00a0Is that right? \u00a0Have you ever been grumpy and whiny and ungrateful when things didn\u2019t go your way?\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd has that happened more than once?\u201d<\/p>\n
He eventually recanted his one-strike policy, but I understand his desire to draw stark distinctions between what is okay and what is not. \u00a0When you plant things, or babies or nations, and they bear little fruit, it\u2019s hard not to throw in your gardening gloves.<\/p>\n
But there is something about spring that draws us in each year, renewing our hope for the garden. \u00a0And something about fall that makes my teacher\u2019s heart come alive with promise. \u00a0Crop failure is a part of life, to be sure. \u00a0But so are sun, and soft soil, and empty notebooks, and unused erasers. \u00a0 Who knows what might grow next year?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Tuesday, we choked down a few nasty beans and one nasty squash. \u00a0Zach held his nose while he ate them, and followed each bite with a large milk chaser. \u00a0Jeff, whose worst review of my culinary attempts is typically, \u201cThis isn\u2019t that bad,\u201d pushed the vegetables to the side and said, \u201cThese are NOT […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[241,242,5,243],"class_list":["post-878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bearing-fruit","tag-gardening","tag-homeschool","tag-sunday-school"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>On Tuesday, we choked down a few nasty beans and one nasty squash. \u00a0Zach held his nose while he ate them, and followed each bite with a large milk chaser. \u00a0Jeff, whose worst review of my culinary attempts is typically, \u201cThis isn\u2019t that bad,\u201d pushed the vegetables to the side and said, \u201cThese are NOT good.\u201d<\/p>\n