Don't put down the chalk!

I was just blown away by an example given in a recent Sentinel article by Betty Jenks. I just have to share it with you. She wrote about a story she heard years before that helped her face a lingering illness. It concerned a college professor on his first day with a new batch of freshmen students in a calculus class. He wrote a fairly advanced problem on the blackboard and wondered if anyone could solve it. One student eagerly raised his hand and went to the blackboard with confidence to show his stuff. He hadn't gone very far before the professor chided him by saying, "No, no, you are way off right from the start." The dejected young man put down the chalk and returned to his seat.

Another student came forward and began exactly the same way. This time the professor raised his voice and sarcastically asked, "Is anyone listening when I speak?" A third student volunteered, went to the blackboard and began the same way. The professor was fed up by now and in utter despair threw his book down on the desk. However, the student now at the blackboard ignored him, continued until she solved the problem, and sat down. The teacher said, "Perfect. Thank you." Well, now the other two complained that the student's solution was exactly what they were going to do!

Here's the punch line. The professor responded, "This will be the most important lesson you will ever learn - it's not enough to know something, you have to know that you know it." He then went on, "Why did you stop simply because I suggested you were wrong? Fear? Doubt? Confusion? Or were you so impressed with me that if I said something, you decided it must be true?"

Don't be influenced to believe in suffering or lack or frustration. Don't put down the chalk! Know the Truth and that Truth will make you free. God is good and He made all. That means all He made is good. God made you. You are His idea. What does that make you? Good and whole and complete and happy and healthy. Know this.

Be at peace.