1699) I am one of the fortunate people who knew from a young age what I wanted to be when I grew up. I knew I wanted to be a teacher. Thinking back, I remember the very first faculty meeting I ever attended and feeling the rush of joy because, finally, my dream had come true.

I found, in the early days of my career, that teaching is a difficult thing to do. You have to prepare lessons, make calendars to make sure all the curriculum is covered. You have to keep all sorts of records, accurately. You have to grade and conference with kids and identify where their strengths and weaknesses are. You have to urge within yourself the enthusiasm and that is often contagious, good and bad. You have to present the lessons in a manner that keeps your student’s interests.

You have many after school hours commitments when you’d rather just stay home. You have to model behaviors that build up a child’s repertoire in social graces. You have to deal with kids who are so wounded, all they can do is show up. You have to deal with parents who can fall into the categories of very supportive to aggressive and mean. When I became a teacher, I signed up for all of these and more. It’s been a ride with many ups and downs, but a good one.

All these things came to mind when I read Matthew 28:19. The verse instructs us to make disciples of all nations. This word disciple means to teach others about our faith. We have the responsibility to do all this teaching, and whether we give it any thought or not. We’re all teachers.

We are always modeling for others what a faith in Jesus is like. The question is, what are you teaching others about faith?