Emphasis Preaching Journal

Normally I love teaching Confirmation class. However, I remember one year that I found teaching Confirmation a chore. That was the year Sandra first started class. Sandra was thirteen years old. She was an intelligent, deeply caring person. Unfortunately, Sandra felt as if no one liked her and that everyone was out to get her. Consequently, she verbally and physically lashed out at others before they could hurt her. Naturally, the class treated her in the same way that she treated them. Nothing I tried seemed to end the hostility that disrupted every class. I was at my wit's end. My prayer before and after every class became, "Lord, use me to help Sandra." I'll never forget the class when the Lord did just that. We were studying 1 Corinthians 12:8-11. In preparation for that class, I wrote each person's name at the top of a sheet of paper. Following the name I wrote, "I believe the Spirit has given you the ability to...." After reading and discussing the passage, I passed out the sheets of paper and instructed the students to write down one of the gifts that they felt the Spirit had given them. They were then to fold the sheet of paper so that their name remained visible, but their answer was hidden. Then they were to pass their sheets to the right, and that person was to write down a gift that they felt the Spirit had given to the person whose name was on top of the paper. When the sheets were full, they were given back to their owner to be read. As Sandra read her sheet I was surprised to see tears running down her cheeks. "I never thought anybody liked me or knew I had gifts," she said. The Spirit had given each of us another gift -- the gift of understanding.
-- Conroy