Majoring in the Majors

I’ll never forget my sixth grade teacher, Ms. Edgerton, who required us to memorize the Twenty-third Psalm.  Her words will remain forever with me:  “Class, I expect all of you to commit this particular Scripture to memory because, trust me; you are going to need it down the road one day.  Psalm 23 is so foundational that you can’t afford to go through life without knowing the Lord as your Shepherd.” 

 No school standard can compare with this knowledge.

This was a defining moment for me.  Every academic subject seemed superficial in contrast to the sacred text. Of all the things we studied that year, the memorized scriptures are all I can honestly still remember (except for the 3 Rs).  It’s called “learning by heart.” 

What an interesting phenomenon: hide something deep within and it mysteriously becomes etched there in stone, inerasable by time and circumstance.  Truth is internalized, integrated into the personality, and miraculously transforms the mind. 

 Ms. Edgerton never required us to memorize scriptures for a grade, but she was wise enough to know which lessons were eternal and which were temporal.  Wise enough to discern the difference between wheat and chaff.   On a daily basis she put the horse before the cart. 

                    From my sixth grade teacher and from my mother I learned to major in the majors, and have passed this legacy on to my own children. After all, it was the Shepherd who led me to homeschool my children. (Isaiah 40:11) … He will gently lead those that are with young.   As parents we’ve been given a window of opportunity to introduce our children to the One who can lead them throughout their lives.  May He continue to guide us all in the paths of righteousness.