A Parent’s Delight

To wish her son a Happy Father’s Day, my friend Betty posted (on Facebook) a picture of him and his daughter. After describing Jeff as “the best father a child could have,” Betty concluded the message by saying, “We love you,” something she and her husband had surely said many times to Jeff.

I commented immediately, saying, “What a thrill to see Jeff and his daughter!!! I’m so happy he’s such a wonderful dad—but I am not the least bit surprised that he is. I wouldn’t have expected him to be otherwise. Please tell him hello for me and that I am so proud of him.”

I haven’t seen Jeff since he became an adult, but I remember how he delighted me when he was one of my third grade students. He never gave me one minute’s trouble. He was diligent, well-behaved, always prepared, polite, kind…Thus, I was not at all surprised to hear he was a wonderful dad. 

As I thought about Jeff and his proud parents, I recalled what the Bible says about a son (or daughter!) who turns out well.

The father of a righteous man has great joy; 

he who has a wise son delights in him. 

May your father and mother be glad; 

may she who gave you birth rejoice.

~Proverbs 23:24-25, NIV.

Ignore the Naysayers

A college student encountered many challenges, especially during her senior year. Several of the professors doubted her ability to teach well and to pass the teacher certification tests. They strongly urged her to give up her dream of becoming a teacher, but she refused.

She continued to study hard and to do her best, even though getting a good grade required much more effort from her than it did from other students. Despite the long hours she studied at her desk in her dorm room and/or in the library, she remained cheerful and determined to graduate with her class and to pass the teacher certification exams.

Thankfully, she didn't give up on her dreams! She went on to become a much-loved, compassionate, and competent teacher. When she died of cancer long before time for her to retire, her students (current and former) and their parents turned out in droves to attend the visitation and the funeral service. Their response meant so much to her dear husband and children and grandchildren because they realized the community also deeply loved and appreciated her.

But she might not have had such a well-lived life if she'd listened to those who thought she'd never amount to much!

For I know the plans I have for you," says the Eternal [God], "plans for peace, not evil, to give you a future and hope--never forget that. 
~Jeremiah 29:11, VOICE

The Teacher

We worked in silence most of the time, not because we had to but because we were concentrating hard on the 16x20 oil painting we were supposed to complete during the eight-hour session. As the instructor began to move from student to student, someone called out, “Help! I need the magic brush!”


Soft laughter erupted, and then several others said, “Me, too!”

That continued throughout the day. But while we waited our turn for help, we’d look more closely at the instructor’s painting that was projected on large TV screens and try to do what she had done.

Applying the paint to the canvas had looked so easy—effortless, actually—when the instructor had shown us how. But whenever we tried to paint the same part of the picture on our canvas, the clouds or the barn or whatever we were painting at the time didn’t look as wonderful as hers. So, we’d cry out, “Help! I need the magic brush!”

As soon as the instructor arrived at our easel, she’d make a cheerful comment and then take a long-handled brush like the one we were using, load it with some of the paint we’d mixed on our palettes, and then deftly apply it to our canvas. Within seconds she’d transform our round blobs into natural-looking rocks or our un-natural-looking water into a flowing, shimmering creek. Then she’d move on to the next student in need of the “magic brush.”


Actually, it wasn’t the brush that made the difference, else those of us who were using a brush like hers could have painted beautifully without any assistance. It was the teacher’s ability that brought about the transformation. Had it not been for her, many of us would have gone home with a mess rather than a beautiful oil painting we were proud to display.


Now, she didn’t do all of our work for us. Quite the contrary! We tried as hard as we could to do exactly what she had done, but whenever we called for help, she’d come right alongside us and show us what to do. Not once did she reprimand anyone for not listening carefully, for not remembering what she had said to do, for not trying hard enough, or for not being able to paint as well as she could.

She knew we wanted to learn. And even though some of us had to be told and re-told what to do, to be shown and re-shown, she remained patient.

As I reflected on that experience, I began to see how it paralleled, in some ways, that of Jesus and His disciples. What He did looked so easy, so effortless. But when they tried to perform a similar miracle, they couldn’t do it. More than once, they had to call on Him to do what they couldn’t do.


Naturally, they were terribly upset when He told them He was going away. However, He assured them they would continue to have a Teacher. “But when the Father sends the Counselor as my representative—and by the Counselor I mean the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I myself have told you” (John 14:26).


An ever-present teacher! What a gift! And there’s more Good News: the Teacher is always with you and me, too, enabling us to be and do far more than we (or anyone else!) ever thought possible.

© 2006 by Johnnie Ann Burgess Gaskill, http://www.jgaskill.com/. Scripture quoted is from the New Living Translation.

Hands of the Potter

Note: This photo was taken a couple of years after the column was written. This image shows the hands of the potter over those of a young girl.

I watched in awe as a skilled potter shaped a blob of clay into a small bowl. As the wheel spun around and around, the potter cupped her hands around the wet, supple clay she’d placed in the center of the wheel. Once the bowl began to take shape, the potter placed her right hand outside the bowl and her left hand inside the bowl. By applying gentle pressure—inside against outside, outside against inside—she used her fingers to create the details she wanted the bowl to have.

“I’ve got it started,” she said to a young boy who was watching the demonstration. “See what you can do with it.”

She got up from her chair, and the boy, who looked to be around 12 years old, sat down. She said, “Press the pedal so you can see how fast the wheel will go.” He did.

“Slow it down,” she said. He complied.

“Too slow,” she said. “Try to set the speed somewhere in between.”

After he’d cupped his hands around the clay, she squatted beside him and used her hands to help him shape the clay.

Watching the teacher with the pupil reminded me of a phrase I heard years ago: “Each one teach one.”

Teaching often involves more than simply telling and/or showing someone how to do something. So, as the learner struggled to obey her instructions and replicate her actions, she provided additional guidance by actually taking his hands in hers, allowing the gentle pressure from her fingers to guide his. As a result of their working together, the bowl turned out fine.

As I reflected on that, I thought about how I’ve often wished I could’ve heard Jesus speak and watched His actions—and had Him come to my aid whenever I’d messed things up. How wonderful, I’ve often thought, to be among those who say, as one of His disciples did, “We have seen him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands” (1 John 1:1, New Living Translation).

Although the “Teacher,” as many called Him, is no longer on earth in bodily form, I am not without a master teacher, and neither are you, dear reader. You see, after Jesus returned to heaven, God sent us another teacher, one Jesus referred to as the Counselor, the Paraclete, the One who comes alongside. (See John 16.) The Spirit guides us as surely as the potter guided the young boy, as surely as Jesus would if we could receive instruction directly from His lips or feel the guiding touch of His hands on ours as we work, as we minister according to His commands.

Since we have the Spirit to accurately teach us and to divinely enable us, we can know and do infinitely more than we ever could on our own. Like the young boy who would have made a mess of the bowl (apart from the potter’s presence and patient assistance), you and I will make a mess of our work (of our ministry) if we depend solely on our own abilities. Even the most earnest effort is not sufficient for success—apart from the Spirit’s help—for, as God said centuries ago, “It is not by [mankind’s] might nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6, NLT).

Copyright © 2005 by Johnnie Ann Burgess Gaskill. For permission to use, please contact her.