The Teacher Within - Shepherd

What happens to us when we confront a learning situation is determined by our inner state. When we use the opportunities that arise to sort out our internal world, we prepare to explore new concepts.
A woman’s tears taught Fred Rogers this profound lesson about attuning to what is happening inside. In his book The World According to Mister Rogers (Hyperion, New York, 2003, page 126), the well-known Presbyterian minister who hosted the captivating children’s television show: "Mister Roger’s Neighborhood" recounts the incident. As a seminary student, he vacationed at a small town in New England. Sunday morning he went to hear a visiting preacher. In his opinion, the sermon was the worst he had ever heard.
As the sermon concluded, Fred Rogers looked at the woman beside him and saw her tears. Then he heard her murmur, “He said exactly what I needed to hear.”
That morning he learned that how we come to worship profoundly impacts the value of that time of worship for us. What is happening inside will determine the impact of what we hear.
Fred Rogers admits, “Somehow the words of that poorly crafted sermon had been translated into a message that spoke to her heart. On the other hand, I had come in judgment, and I heard nothing but the faults. “ Coming with an attitude of need to fill the void in her life, she received teaching that helped her find her way. The seminary student’s failure to recognize his inner needs prevented him from hearing anything of value.
Fred Rogers learned his lesson well. He came to value and encourage that awareness we need to develop the world within, so we can learn to allow God to speak in the silent place and take us into new explorations about life and about ourselves.
An example was an event that happened at the White House many years later. Many distinguished educators gathered for a conference where they were presenting before the President their accumulated academic theories of education. Among them was Fred Rogers. Since time was limited, each presenter was permitted a maximum of eight minutes for their discourse. When Mister Rogers’ turn came, he began by inviting those who were present to take the first three minutes and recall the teacher or instructor who had had the most profound impact on their lives.
People were astonished that he would waste three minutes of his valuable talking time this way. However, several months later, some of the same educators gathered for another event. As they talked together they discovered that the only speaker who had left a lasting impact was Fred Rogers. They did not remember the theories or profound wisdom that had been shared by the other speakers. However, all of them could recall the person they thought about during the three minutes at the beginning of Mister Rogers’ presentation and what he had said about the impact of such a teacher. Maybe the greatest teacher is to one who helps us learn to listen and attend to the still small voice within.

Eleanor Shepherd

The Thrill of the Chase

Writing is such a thrill isn’t it? It’s full of highs and lows, thrills and disappointments, agony and ecstasy. In a moment, our hopes and dreams become devastation and nightmares before turning once again to joy and exhilaration.

Ever since my first book of meditations, Prayer Companion, was published by Anglican Book Centre in 2001, I have pursued my dream of another such book on the shelves. That was six years ago and God has been leading me ever since towards the goal of Glorious Autumn Days: Meditations for the Wisdom Years.

Not only has God led me to this goal, He has taught me many new things along the way. The manuscript that I began in 2001 had only the bare bones of the book that was just published in March, 2007. It evolved, through daily living and spiritual growth, into the place where it can now help others to come more fully into a relationship with God.

It is true that I had hoped to be published once again by an established publisher but I got tired of waiting. Though I had always said that I would never self-publish, never is a long time. After being rejected by my third publisher in December, 2006 and being told, as if by a miracle, of a print-on-demand publisher on the internet a couple of weeks before that, I decided to put my faith in God and just do it.

I researched www.lulu.com to the best of my ability and it seemed to be a legitimate company and one that I could work with. However, I decided to publish a small poetry book as a test run to see how it worked and if I could master the technology that was needed to make a professional looking final product. The poetry book, a second edition of Grapes from the Vine, was quite satisfactory but I realised that my meditation book would benefit from a better formatting job.

I searched for and found a book formatting wizard that I could download for a price and though it meant that I would have to also buy a more advanced Microsoft Word program than the one I had on my computer, I felt it would be worth it as I would then have it for any future publishing ventures.

I now have my beautiful meditation book, Glorious Autumn Days, in hand. And with the assistance of Carmen Leal’s book, You Can Market Your Book, I am progressing at a slow and steady pace, learning as I go, to market my book to others.

My website, www.judithlawrence.ca is up and running; at N.J. Lindquist’s invitation, I write a regular blog here; I am putting myself in the way of media interviews and local speaking engagements and, all in all, I am very excited about the way God is leading me.

I have also assisted two other people to publish their books on www.lulu.com and I know that I will be publishing more of my own work in this way. All glory be to God for His enabling power and joy.