I am teaching courses this semester at Cecil College on writing, publishing and marketing your first book. A scary venture for me since I have never taught a college class before! (Ok, I’ve given some writing workshops, Toastmasters speeches, and spoken to high school and college classes – but never been responsible for teaching a three-hour course! Responsible being the key word…responsible that my students learn something. My first class Saturday went well. I felt like I really did teach my students a few things. But I also learned a lot. Funny how life – and God – work. I had my students do a writing exercise and I was blown away by the beauty of the words they wrote in just ten minutes about a winter scene I put up. (Moment of panic. What could I teach them? They were already good writers!) But I had to remind myself that I had to shelve my false humility and moments of fear (experienced in the weeks leading up to the class and during the class itself) and have faith that God wouldn’t  call me to teach if He wasn’t going to guide me despite my inadequacy of never having done it before (just like Moses, who had a speech impediment, had to have faith He was being called to lead the Jews to the Promised Land), confidence in the gifts He has given me, and that I need to continue to pray for wisdom to do the job well (just like Solomon – and look at all the wisdom he got!). I also learned that I have more to learn when it comes to good writing – we all do – and the more I research and teach, the more I will learn. I am thankful, looking back, for all of the good teachers I have had in my life, and realize that the really good ones were also open to learning.
