My day was not going well. I had been talked back to more times that I wanted to count since the school day had begun. The students seemed to be on edge, they were not being nice to each other and they certainly were not being nice to me. The "straw that broke the camel's back" came when I was speaking to one of them and she lipped me off. I lost it. My words back to her were spoken in anger and without thought. That encounter wasn't pleasant. I was miserable for the rest of the day. I'm sure she was too.
The school's track and field day was held at the school the next day. Everyone met in the gym for instructions at 9:30 AM. Teachers, students, volunteers; we were all there. I stood at the back of the gym and noticed the mother of the student I had spoken angrily to the day before. At that moment she turned around and looked directly at me. I was sure her daughter had voiced her unhappiness about the incident that had taken place between us the day before and I was sure the mom wanted to talk about it. I knew what to do.
I had accepted Christ as my Lord and Saviour in my early forties. Up until then, I lived my life in the world and I thought the world was great. In fact, I thought I was great. All that changed when I became a Christian. I realized that I hadn't been particularly nice to people. I gave out apologies but I wasn't always very gracious about them. But now I knew how Jesus wanted me to behave and to respond to others. Scripture verses were becoming alive and meaningful to me.
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love" (Ephesians 4:2 NIV). "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you (Colossians 3:13 NIV).
The mom was helping out in the kitchen. I went in and asked her if her daughter had told her about our encounter the day before. She said she had. I asked her if she would like to talk about it with me. She said she would. I said it's a busy time right now. How about if I come and get you later? She agreed.
When the day was winding down, and most of the track events were finished; when lunch was long over and the kitchen was cleaned up, I came and got her. We walked together to a quiet room at the end of the hall. As soon as we entered, I started right in. I told her about the horrible day I had had with the students and how her daughter's remark had been one more thing I didn't need to hear. Actually I had been very surprised at what she had said as she was a very good student and I had never heard her speak like that before. I told the Mom I would go to her, explain everything, and apologize.
As we walked back to the school kitchen, I knew we both felt a whole lot better
I found her daughter before 3:30 and was able to speak to her, telling her the circumstances that led up to my outburst of anger. I was so glad to give my apology to her and she was so glad to accept it. I felt good walking home later that afternoon.
Around 5:30 PM I was preparing supper, chopping up some vegetables. I had forgotten all about what had happened earlier that day. Suddenly I remembered. I stopped chopping the food. I raised my head and said, "Lord, I did what you wanted me to do." And at that moment, I felt three separate circles of warmth descend on me from the top of my head, down alongside my body to my waist. What a wonderful, wonderful experience that was for me! It was such a blessing from God; a confirmation to me that I was learning to be obedient.
I help put together the school/community newsletter to send out to the people of Rockglen once a month. The mother from this story is in charge of this job. We've never talked about that day but there's a feeling of friendship between us that I cherish. Her daughter is a pharmacist and we have bumped into each other a couple of times. Once we took a selfie of ourselves to send to her mom. That was fun!
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Sandra Rafuse lives in the small town of Rockglen, Sask., with her husband, Bob, a Gordon setter named Sadie, and a Peregrine falcon named Peet. She is a retired teacher and an amateur writer, and is thoroughly enjoying having the opportunity to share what God is teaching her through her life experiences with others.
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