Our Personal Rabbi

For years, I taught junior high kids with learning differences, one of which was attention deficit disorder (ADD). These kids were brilliantly gifted in many ways, but attending to verbal details and tasks was often a challenge for them. As their teacher, I had to learn to understand the way their brains were uniquely wired and the challenges they faced so I could help them learn.

One year, I attended a teacher training seminar that included a simulation of what it’s like to have ADD in the classroom setting. We - the teachers - were told to sit still, be quiet and pay attention to all instructions that would be given via audio recording. This was a test of our ability to listen. It would be simple. We would hear 3 instructions, and we would respond on the worksheet in front of us. There was no talking allowed. The student with the most correct answers would win a prize. (Every teacher in the room felt confident in our abilities to ace this test.)

“Ready? Let’s begin.” The audio message began, and we all leaned forward in our chairs to pay attention. The first instruction was, “Write your name in the blank to the right of the . . .” There was a loud cough and clearing of the throat that covered up the rest of the sentence. I looked at my paper and had to guess which blank to write my name in.

The second message began: “Now draw a . . . in the lower . . . of your paper.” The trainer was moving loudly around the room, tapping her pencil on the table and slamming books down on the table so that only fragments of instruction #2 came through. Oh no. I was not going to ace this test.

As the third instruction began, the trainer turned on a loud fan in the room and shuffled a stack of notebooks. There were some quiet chuckles as the point soon became clear. We were experiencing what it was like to be our attention-challenged students who, hearing too many sounds at once, were missing the voice of instruction.

As a teacher, I learned that not all kids are going to learn in a traditional classroom; my job as a Learner Services teacher, teaching 3-4 students at a time, was to learn everything I could about how each child’s brain worked, how each was motivated, and how each could grow. If one child needed to move about the room while he was memorizing, I gave him room to do that. If another child learned best by color-coding her notes with different colored markers, I supplied the markers. If another learned best by talking things through rather than writing them down, I invited that one to my desk and so we could verbally review.

I wanted to help each student grow into the person they were meant to be, not by changing them to be like everyone else, but by delighting in who they were and envisioning the beauty of who they were becoming.

I know for some of us it may have felt like if we don’t do spiritual life just like “X,Y,Z,” we are failures. Maybe we compare our spiritual life to someone else’s and worry that ours doesn’t look like theirs. But what if God delights in our unique interests and abilities and meets us in exactly that place?

I have a love for writing. So for me, when it comes to spending time with God, I want to write things down in my journal. Sometimes I start my journal with “Dear Lord . . . ” and then just write whatever comes to mind. Others would rather speak out loud with God than write in a journal. God teaches some of you while going on a hike with friends. Still others of you might grow most as you paint what God shows you through a simple verse in the Bible.

God meets us in unexpected ways, precisely according to the ways he has individually formed us. I wonder how God might want to use how he’s made you to speak to you. Think about your areas of interest, your wiring, and the unique environments you are in. How could those areas intersect with prayer or Scripture or meeting with God?

As a teacher I learned to appreciate the differences in my students, and as I got to know them I delighted in seeing them grow in unique ways. How much more might Jesus, our personal Rabbi, delight in us growing into his likeness according to the unique ways the Father made us?