Everything's OK

Yes, that's the title of a Chris Rice song. But it's also indicative of my mood. Today I taught 3 hours of high school literature (exhausting, but a great joy) and had a well-earned frappuchino. There's something special about the first frappuchino of spring, you know? Especially if you drink it while tooling along with the windows down, tra-la-la-ing along to worship music. Sunshine also helps.

I love being a teacher. I get to ask outrageous questions. My first question to the new class I taught this morning was "Okay, let's all be honest. Who here either hates literature or really couldn't care less about it?" Eleven out of twelve students raised their hands. Boy, that was a moment. I just grinned at them. "I'm not going to try to convince you that literature is cool," I said. "It's kinda like God. God is way cool, whether or not we recognize it. Ditto for literature. I hope you realize the coolness of literature someday--maybe today, maybe not--but it's your loss if you don't." And on we went.

I told them that my main goal for the morning was to get them to ask questions they'd never had to ask before, and think in ways they may never have thought before. As far as I could tell, it worked. The boys, at least, began to pay attention right about the time I started explaining that bouncing basketballs and rap are rhythmic, which means artistic, which relates to sound patterns in poetry. I also compared Jerusalem vs. Athens literature to Terps v. Duke basketball. O di immortales! I dunno if I'll ever be forgiven for that one, but in a class with 10 boys and only 2 girls, something's gotta give. :-P

My afternoon class, which I teach pretty often, was more fun in some ways, though less challenging. Another thing I love about being a teacher---I can arbitrarily decide to have class outside. We lounged around in the sun, comparing Aristotelian views of literature to biblical and Christian views, talking about what aspects of the Gospel we would portray in our stories if we were writing them. It was fascinating to hear their thoughts: we would up with two allegories, an epic, a long and gentle sanctification novel, and a class-struggles novel, all based on our individual answers to the question "What aspect of the Gospel is most amazing to you?" We also talked about whether or not Christians can find a use for the genre of horror story, and about whether writing literature is "self-expression" or "communication". It was a great discussion!

I am now "all mellowed out," slightly sunburnt, and ready for a weekend of garden work. Happy, happy, me--saved, graced, and in the process of being sanctified. There is no gladness like living under the Gospel.