God’s Work in Small Moments

As a teacher, the most rewarding thing to witness is the moment when a student “gets it.” It is these small moments, usually few and far between, that makes it all worth it. These moments are even more memorable when they come from a student that you would least expect, or a student who struggles in your class.

One of my freshman students, “Maggie,” was one of those students I couldn’t quite figure out right away. She would participate every once in awhile and seemed knowledgeable with the content but was mostly withdrawn and failed to turn in the majority of her work. The pieces didn’t quite fit together.

In February, I began a new unit and took my students to the chapel instead of the classroom. As a teacher I think it’s important to show my students a variety of ways that we can pray. So, throughout the course I’ll introduce them to meditative prayer, the Rosary, etc. On this day, I decided to do Lectio Divina with my students. I had them enter the chapel quietly, with only pen and paper in hand. They were instructed to spread themselves out so they could take the exercise seriously. I introduced what Lectio Divina is and began walking my students through it. The passage I chose was the prologue from John’s Gospel that begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”