Teaching Can Heal

Tonight (or rather last night since it is now after midnight), my husband and I attended a meeting at church.  We had a few different speakers who all spoke on different topics.  All were wonderful and uplifting but one stood out to me and has had me pondering ever since I heard the speaker say, "Teaching can heal."   Three simple words yet so profound, to me anyway.

Of course the message was of a spiritual sense and in relation to the gospel and how we can serve others but it led me to think of teaching in general.  I always knew I wanted to be a Soldier and had planned on doing that for at least 20 years and then my plan was to transition into being a school teacher.  At some point, that goal shifted and I decided that teaching in a classroom environment for five days a week was not something I desired nor felt I had the patience for in my life.  I love to teach and am an instructor in many aspects of my life.  I have taught Sunday School to the youth in our church, I teach a lesson once a month in the woman's organization at church and I teach many different classes to Military Families on our Army installation.  So to say that I love to teach would be a slight understatement.

What this talk stirred up in me was the question and finally an answer as to why I feel so satisfied when I teach.  I often get asked why I teach and do so many other things for "free".  I am a full-time volunteer, the classes I teach are primarily taught by volunteers.  I am passionate about the topics but I am most passionate about the results.  I get to interact with so many Military Families and watch them as they transform.  We often get students in who are not enjoying Army life, who are often disgruntled and angry about what they feel the Army has done to them.  Some of our students are scared, intimidated or just a little lost in this new lifestyle.  After attending some of our training, many are transformed, many have a new outlook and many feel ready to conquer the world, or at least this challenging lifestyle we call the Army.

What I recognized tonight was that teaching in general has an amazing healing power.  We are able to build realistic expectations when we are educated on anything.  Sometimes we set ourselves up for failure, pain and frustration when we don't know where to turn. I believe that we all have the ability to help others, to help them heal.

I really think these three simple words are going to motivate me to take my teaching into a new direction.