A short term group from El Salvador came recently to give classes for teachers and pastors in the region. I was able to sit in with the teachers for most of the day this past Friday and Saturday. Teachers from Chajul, Nebaj, Cotzal were able to take part. One class especially spoke to me and the other teachers as well. Many of their eyes filled with tears.
The teacher of the class was an older woman named Tita. She had obviously been a teacher for many years because she took command of the room from the start. She insisted that the desks be put in a circle with nobody sitting behind another. She wanted our full attention. It was Saturday morning and the group was much smaller and intimate than it was the previous day.
She described the different temperaments and personalities of people and how it is important to know all the students that you teach. We then took a test to discover what our predominant temperaments were.
She then used some of us as examples, describing the differences. She used me as an example and described me so perfectly I got goosebumps. She talked about her two daughters, how one was more calm and quiet while the other was more energetic and talkative, and how she accepted each one the way they were, even if sometimes they drove her crazy.
She had us look at Psalm 139:13-14
For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
She emphasized to us that there is nobody like us in the entire world. We are all different and we are all special. She wanted us to be the best versions of ourselves and not put on different masks to be who others wanted us to be. We are an idea of God and it is impossible that an idea of God is not a good idea. She told us to thank God today for being created exactly as we are and for transforming us day by day to the person that He wants us to be. For Him, each one of us is incomparable.
She told us she had a gift for us. She brought out a box with a bow on it. She had one of the women come and look at the gift without showing anybody else what it was. She asked if she liked the gift that God gave her this day. And she said yes. Tita asked her to think about the gift. She brought another person in front of the class and had them look at the gift. One by one all the teachers were shown what was in the box and were told to think in the gift. I walked up to the box, curious as to what was inside. I looked inside and saw my own reflection. She told me to look carefully at the gift and then I went to sit down.
I was deeply moved by the gift. How many times in my life have I wished to be different, have I wished to be more outgoing, to be more open, and yet God made me exactly as I am. He has given me life, He has given me salvation, and I am truly unique, and there is nobody like me.
She asked every one of us what we saw in our gift. Some people could not hold it together as they described what they saw. I looked around the room and saw so many eyes filled with tears. How many of us sitting in that room had been seeking things from God without realizing the gift He has already given us? Without realizing that God made us the way we are for a reason?
She finished by saying that today, begin the act of being an exclusive model because there is nobody like you.
A Men.
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