A student who recognizes and remembers me is one of the many blessings in my life. Thirty-one years of teaching little ones stay indelibly imprinted in my memory. The bond between teacher and student remains. I tried to figure out one time just how many students I had taught in 31 years. I stopped counting after several thousand.

A Lt. Colonel walked up to me recently. “Aren’t you Mrs. Clayton?” He politely asked. “I had you in second grade, ”this handsome young man said.

“Let me look at you,” I exclaimed, gazing into his big brown eyes. Many of my ex-students keep the same facial features and are easily recognized. Others have changed.  Yet whether I recognize them or not the thrill is still the same. It had been many years since this particular student had been in my class. The fact that he recognized me was an added blessing. 

            It is the same in God’s classroom. How ever old I become I am still His child.

He doesn’t have to stop and try to remember who I am. He tells me in Isaiah 49:16, “See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” (NIV) I want to be that same eager wanting to learn child that I had under my tutelage for so many years.

            My students wrote notes of love. Yet God has written love letters that will last forever. They are in His Word, the Bible. (Romans 8:38)

            “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

            I am still learning in His classroom. Some of the lessons are hard, but my Teacher is gentle and kind…and He never will leave or forsake me. He is always with me. When I don’t understand I ask him help and He patiently shows me the way. Like my students I tell “My Teacher” how much I love Him.

            My Teacher and ex-students are my forever friends!