Start the day right and end it right! I know this to be true. This is the reason why I strongly believe in Early Morning Seminary. Just like scripture reading and prayer, it helps set the days’ tone – what one does first thing in the morning. As my daughter April Ann said, it can be likened to the First and Last Song Syndrome. Whatever we hear first and/or last, it stays in our minds practically the whole day. Plus, I learned from Church lessons that the mind is like a stage, it can only accommodate one thought at a time.
It has been more than one month since I started teaching Early Morning Seminary. Sad on my part but I have sort of “lost” two students this early. Their parents decided to let them stop attending because of one incident where the kids decided to skip class intentionally, and they blamed me and seminary. They said kids cannot be trusted to make wise decisions and that as adults we must make sure that we don’t give them any reason to do so.
I was hurt, and I felt bad and sad. However, I said to myself I have other seminary students who happen to have the same class schedules as them, and they even live farther away, but they’re able to come on time and attend our classes just fine. I will be there for these my beloved students.
Getting up early and preparing myself to teach, it does take a lot of discipline. Every time my alarm clock rings at 4 am, I always have this feeling of wanting to stay in bed. But then as I reflect and think about O’Neil and Louie, Pearl and Apple, and my two daughters April and Sarah, as I think about how early they too have to wake up, I tell myself I should be ashamed of myself. These young fellows - they wake up early, take a bath, dress themselves for school, miss breakfast occasionally – just to make it in time for my class. I have to be better …
For any other reason, I would never leave the warm comfort of my bed and my husband’s warm arms and embrace. Days are long for me, and I treasure all the resting time I can afford. More than being a wife and a mother of five, I also am a homemaker – I clean the house, cook, do the laundry, and clean. To add to these, I teach in a local university and do consulting and training and workshop facilitation. Then, I have church callings to attend to. Not that I am complaining. I am just saying that I love what I am doing, and I believe that if we want something bad enough, and we know it to be true, there is always a way.
I miss my two “lost” students. Every time we have seminary class, my thoughts are turned to them. It is my hope and prayer that their parents will change their mind and allow them to come, not for me, but more for the sake and welfare of these two young fellows.
I love my students; they’re now more like my own children. My prayer for them daily is for them to always remember the lessons we discuss in class, and that they will use them to make wise decisions every minute of the day, as they face a world that challenges their values and standards.
