Fearful spies brought God’s people a bad report of the Promised Land (see Numbers 14:32).
Most people got discouraged when they heard it.
“Oh, how we wish we’d died,” they cried,
“In the land of Egypt (where they had been gypped).”
To enter a land of milk and honey
With an outlook bright and sunny
seemed like an impossible task to them.
That’s how I used to feel: like I could never reach that promised land. Then one day recently I was looking through some bad report cards former teachers had written about me.
These were bad reports, I realized,
Telling me I was the wrong size
To tackle all those giants in the Promised Land.
Rip, shred, tear!
One bad report card hit the trash, then another.
With great joy I threw them all away.
My teachers’ wrong assessments went sailing into the can. Along with those false assessments went the insecurity that stems from trying to please other people rather than pleasing God.
Because teachers have expectations
Based on whatever evaluations
Someone else expects them to complete
In order to prove they’ve done their job
And done it well.
If a teacher is mostly negative, however,
It can affect a child’s self esteem
(And make it hard for them to reach their dream).
Rip, shred, tear!
For many years those bad report cards
Stared me in the face.
One of them especially lacked very little grace:
Tons of minuses from a teacher who must have hated me.
She couldn’t find one quality in which this shy child excelled.
NOT A SINGLE ONE.
Despite the fact that I never caused trouble in the classroom. I got zero points for being well-behaved.
ZERO POINTS WHATSOEVER: as in, one entire column showed straights N’s (N meaning Negative).
So, what do you think I did with that report card?
Rip, shred, tear!
Throw out the bad report card and free the child from discouraging expectations she could never meet.
For I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).
True, like everyone else I have fallen short of God’s glory, but that DOES NOT make me inferior to other human beings. Because Jesus cared enough to die for me, which is what those failing teachers failed to see.
Do I hate them for it? No, but I do give the worst grader an F minus when it comes to understanding children. Yet, at the same time I do believe that she, too, can change. In fact, perhaps she has already changed for the better. If not, I pray she comes to know God’s love in a most amazing way.
Meanwhile, do I accept her bad report?
NO WAY!!!!!
Throw out the bad report card and free the inner child,
And in the end there shall be peace and harmony for all.
Signs, Wonders, Miracles 