This One Thing I Know

This is the textbook I'm using in my practicum class this year. It is full of helpful essays about what spirituality is, what religion is, various practices and attitudes about both, and how to incorporate them into therapy appropriately. It has been a godsend, therapeutically speaking.

My students came into class today with expressions on their faces of dread. One guy said it well as he was leaving: "I really hated the thought of this class--all it stands for and what I was thinking would happen. But this is what I've been waiting for. What faculty member do you hear praying before class starts? Where else in this program can we talk this way?" Turning to me he continued, "When you prayed today, I felt a little something" pointing to his chest. "I love this."

I was grateful for the story I heard in church this week, that I opened my class with: a girl was told that her schnauzer dog's coat would be much improved if she gave him a tablespoon of caster oil every week. She decided she would follow this advice. So every week she would wrestle her dog into a head lock, force open his jaw, and pour the caster oil down his throat, rubbing his neck to make it go down. It was always a battle of the will for both of them.
The girl only had to open the cupboard and reach for a spoon, and the dog would disappear under the couch or behind a chair, in dread of the horrid headlock, etc. One day, during their weekly struggle, the dog kicked the bottle of caster oil over on the floor--an awful-smelling, sticky mess. The girl ran for the paper towels to get it cleaned up. When she returned to the kitchen, imagine her shock to see the dog standing in the middle of the caster oil, lapping it up as fast as he could go. He liked caster oil! He just didn't like the way it was given to him.

We are surrounded by people who would be attracted to Jesus if we didn't get in the way of the natural attraction He holds out to people. I reminded my class of this today, with the silent prayer that the spiritualist, the cut-and-dried fundamentalist Christian, the pastor, the Mormon, and the backslidden Adventist, would be able to form a classroom spiritual community of solidarity. As we discuss issues of demon possession, dangers of reparative therapy for gays and lesbians, spirit guides, sweat lodge practices, and marriage for time and eternity, I will be praying the whole time. I believe God will be with us in our diversity and desire to honor Him--even if we worship the representation of Him that looks different from the others in the room.

So how is all the classroom teaching going? It will be well with my soul. I'm tired with a "good" tired feeling, a satisfaction that things have gone better than I planned, and the realization that I am finally home, academically. What a blessing.