There are two great days in everyone's life. The first is the day we were born. And the second is the day we realized why.
Today I'm in Wake Forest for my weekly massage even though the campus is technically closed for Labor Day. Honestly, I can't tell you how eagerly I anticipate returning to the classroom next Monday. It's almost as though I was born for this.
I can recall where it all started. I was a fifth grader at Kainalu Elementary School. On the first day of class, my social studies teacher walked in and said to us, "Cómo está usted?" This was a "light bulb" moment in my young life. Something about that moment changed everything. I couldn't get it out of my head. It kept me up at night. Life was new and exciting. I also recall that the next semester of fifth grade, our teacher began to teach us German. The day I went home and proudly counted to 10 in German is forever embedded in my memory.
I think a good way to describe all of this is serendipity. C. S. Lewis often used this word when he wanted to describe those times in his life when he was "surprised by joy." You see, it was in the fifth grade, though I couldn't fully understand it at the time, that I discovered a passion for languages. You might say the scales fell from my eyes. It was a eureka moment. It was like a wildfire has been sparked in my soul. Teaching Greek turned out to be my life's calling.
Being someone's teacher gives you a unique voice to speak positively in their life. No two days are ever the same. Most of all, I love that light bulb moment in their own lives when they just get it, even when it's taken a while. It doesn't matter whether I'm teaching a brand new Greek student or someone working on their doctorate in New Testament Greek. You focus on the potential you see.
I feel so privileged and blessed to have embarked on the path of language education and so grateful to have met every student along the way. There is no better way to learn about a subject than to teach it. My social studies teacher knew that, and look where it led.