A Teacher's Love

A Teacher’s Love

For Anne Creveling

Romans 12: 9 Ἡ ἀγάπη ἀνυπόκριτος. “Let love be genuine. . .”

Teachers have that certain way of not being

Able to hide their love. It erupts from them

In subtle, yet unmistakable nameless qualities,

Outpouring from a cup made full, overflowing,

Apparent only through time, care, and a million

Memories. For in those many moments, business

Was being done, instruction and corrections

Given, lessons delivered, duties performed,

So a no-nonsense manner sets the standard.

Questions cut through pretense, conversation

Breaks quickly through the surface as if time

Is always too short to waste on the trivial,

Since the real is always at stake, and there is

No wasted moment in teaching. The student

Is always watching, observing, and learning.

There is no off duty, so though I was never

Her student, never officially on her yearly roster,

Never did I ever see her at work at the board,

Posting objectives for the day, and never did

I even see her at her school, I could not mistake

Her teacherly love, and I could not help but learn

From her teacherly way. As a teacher myself I know,

And as a witness I can say, I saw the love she gave

Her church, the teaching she did by example,

The manner she had in life, and know how good

She was in the classroom. She was genuine,

And I can find no better aspect, no more

Necessary quality, no higher praise, and no

Greater gift to a world in need than a teacher,

Whose life fulfilled that prescribed first mark

Of the Christian Life: “Let love be genuine. . .”