The front screen door creaks with that beautiful summery sound of youthful bodies bounding from cool indoors to the hot adventures of the outside air. I’ve just finished the first of hopefully many literature lessons and reading-buddy hours with a young girl from my church. Two mugs sit contentedly on my counter, the dregs of warm tea and happy companionship wallowing sleepily in the bottoms of the cups.
In the span of a few short but impactful weeks, I have become a literature teacher to four sweet and wild homeschoolers. Here I am trying to decide if I should go back to school to become a science teacher and God has rather quietly put me in a position of cultivating the hearts of young children to love literature and see Him in it all. Maybe teaching science isn’t what I should be doing?
I feel His distinct pleasure as I watch C. D. run excitedly out the door with her mother. I feel the warm comfort of His hand steadying me as I hear another mom tell me with a welcoming smile and joyful relief that I am helping her as I read with her children each week.
The question lingers, and I struggle to settle down with it still ringing in my ears: am I supposed to pursue science so I can teach and have a better job closer to home? But I feel His pleasure as I read, I see His goodness and beauty in admirable prose, I hear whispers of His truth and justice as I listen to books I have rolling nearly constantly through the speakers on my phone. What joy there is in watching light break on the face of a child who has discovered the wonder of life and love through literature! What adventures there are to share with others between the pages of a masterful book!
Yes, indeed, I feel His pleasure in this bright moment. And the pleasure of a good book by Carolyn Weber gives me a good line to settle down my nagging thoughts: it is okay to live the unanswered questions. And so I settle down for lunch and the days chores, strengthened by God’s beauty in well-worn pages.
Until tomorrow’s literature lesson, enjoy a good book and the smile of a good God, dear reader.
