It's a terribly foggy morning. I have had a night of dreams and visions. I awoke to find a thick blanket of fog around the house. It was almost spooky. A great fall day for those who like to sit and enjoy the great Pacific Northwest weather.
After returning to my home from my first appointment of the day, I stepped outside onto the deck and saw for the first time the evidence of the population of spiders in my trees and yard. On sunny days, everything seems so clear. I rarely see them then. On foggy days the invisible is brought into focus because of the residue of moisture on everything. The webs are intricate and beautiful. Like lace in the trees and garden.
The understanding of the morning comes clearer. The work isn't always visible, but the product is. How busy those spiders have been in the past few autumn days. Their work is intricate and faceted, much like the work of teachers. Hours may go into their creation before we can really see the product. Many of my friends and I have commented on how work goes on behind the scenes in teaching. Hours of take home work and papers to grade, reports to write and especially the deep and long, thoughtful ponderings on reaching the unreachable student.
Like the pearls of water on a web, teachers can provide the precious jewels to unlock the student's mind and soul to learning. Some pearls sadly are shared but the learner is not yet ready to absorb. This does not stop the work of the teacher. They are daunted and challenged but remain the always diligent spinners, preparing the next step and the next web. When considering the value of pearls, we must look at those around the student. We can only hope that they can recognize the worth of this work and its impact on the individual, the family and the community. The work is long and hard and again sometimes unnoticed. The teacher, like the spider, busily redoing yet another approach to catch the student in the web of the mystery of learning.
Recognizing the call to make the lace web, to weave the inner understandings for all students, young and old, is the calling of a teacher in all subjects of life. Knowing that day in and day out the work must happen, noble and humble to the world. That very busy spider goes back at it without a break. They are keeping the web of learning in place, repairing it and making it strong to withstand the weather of life's deep storms, winds and trials. Those winds and storms of budget, politics, religion, rage on season after season. That teacher stands strong in the duty to answer to "student-kind" for their work and calling.
Knowing that there is little thanks for the spinner of the web. Facing the daily challenges of catching the student in learning is the just reward. Relishing that teachable moment when the student of life has that "Ah ha" experience is the thanks that gives the teacher each day. Knowing by design the teacher is the ultimate architect, creating intelligent living monuments that make humanity so supreme in the Universe. Finding the right weave and angle is not found in a recipe but found in the heart of the spinner.
"The world is like an enormous spider web and if you touch it, however
lightly, at any point, the vibration ripples to the remotest perimeter
and the drowsy spider feels the tingle."(R. Warren).
I can hope that this tingle helps the teachers in the world and in the Universe continue to weave and work, despite all the trials and pressures of the season and society. As a student of life, I am grateful, and as a teacher I am inspired.
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