Today, I learned something from one of my 2nd graders.
We were doing a comprehension activity and each table group was a team. I explained that if team 1 doesn’t answer correctly, then team 2 has a chance to steal the point and so forth. Team 1 got the first question wrong, thus team 2 was given the chance. As a student was answering, I heard protest coming from someone on team 3…
I looked over and to my surprise, one of my students who’s normally very well-composed (a bit more mature than the others) and overall, a pretty balanced kid, was on the verge of tears. He didn’t understand why someone from team 2 was answering and his team got ‘overlooked’ I explained the rules to him again, but that didn’t do much to impede his eyes from brimming with tears. I asked him, “Benny, why are you sad?” And he said “Because teacher is not fair!”
This isn’t the first time a student has said “teacher is not being fair!” Most of the time, they’re saying it because they’re not getting their own way or they don’t like the given directions. However, I found myself replaying this particular scene in my head. And then, something dawned on me..
Many times in the past, I’ve been like Benny. I used to equate not understanding something to it must be unfair then.Manytimes in the past, I would deem God as being unfair, especially (actually, wholly) in the realm of justice. I just didn’t understand why certain things did or did not pan out the way it would. Thus, I went through seasons of questioning the character of God, especially in regards to His sovereignty. But then, He was gracious enough to let me know: Jamie, you will never fully understand my ways, because let’s face it, they’re a lot higher than yours.
To me, the rules for the comprehension activity seemed fair and made sense. To Benny, it didn’t thus the episode of him almost crying and calling me unfair. He couldn’t grasp what seemed right in my head. And even now, sometimes I’m like Benny. I just don’t get it, but God has deposited a whole lot of trust into my heart when I was going through those seasons of wondering and wandering. He reminded me of that today. Through Benny :)
