250th Reflection💬

“I seek teaching. Will the Lord teach❓”

The Lord starts teaching from the very beginning. Are you taking it?

…….

10/10/2022 (Mon) 22:59 WhatsApp

The parent of one of my students sent me two pictures.

Another me said, “On the first one writes - Reading Skills.”

I said, “This means Reading Skills, in Chinese.”

Another me said, “On the second one writes - English Language Exam.”

I said, “This means English Language Exam, in Chinese.”

Another me said, “Why are you doing English-Chinese translation.”

I said, “I’m a professional translator. You’ve given me English words. Are you asking me for Chinese translation?”

Parents sent me an audio recording.

Another me said, “Don’t get too smart. Listen to the recording.”

……

Parent said, “Hello, Mr. Yip. What I’ve just sent you is the English Exam of my daughter. Now, Still 3 months, 3 lessons left before the start of the exam. I wonder if you can give her some tips about the reading paper.”

I said, “Still 3 lessons left. No help can I offer.”

Parent said, “What?”

I said, “To improve reading, it takes 2 basic techniques. First, vocabulary bank. To enlarge the vocabulary bank, dictionary work is needed. Second, syntax, teaching is needed. It’s hard for a learner to acquire.”

Parent said, “Understand. So I’m now going you whether you’re willing offer my daughter some help.”

I said, “No, you don’t understand. The first time you asked me to teach her, I did suggest she should learn syntax. But you said she was doing well in sentence construction and decided only to learn writing skills from me, still remember?”

Parent said, “……remember.”

I said, “That’s relieving. Discuss with your daughter.”

Parent said, “About what?”

I said, “I told at the very beginning she isn’t competent at sentence structures. You two can discuss it and see whether both of you agree and accept on what I said. If you do and decide to learn syntax from me, let me know and I’ll make some lesson arrangement.”

Parent said, “……”

…….

Another me said, “So pathetic are the mum and the daughter.”

I said, “What is so pathetic?”

Another me said, “They wouldn’t have asked you if they could have handled it. Now that they’re humbly seeking help from you only to be given a hard time.”

I said, “When have I ever given them a hard time?”

Another me said, “Yes, you have. They clearly told you they simply wanted some improvement in the coming reading exam. But you did so much lecture. Why not simply teach her?”

I said, “Have I ever said I won’t teach her?”

Another me said, “Well…The Lord sometimes does the same. I did clearly tell Him I came across something I didn’t know how to do and wanted Him to show me how. But He just didn’t teach me right away.”

I said, “Impossible. The Lord is the most straightforward, the most direct, and the frankest. He always teaches.”

Another me said, “Where?”

I said, “The Bible. His teachings are found everywhere, face-to-face tutorials, large class, small groups, one-on-one discussions; books, E-books; videos, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. He even comes over and teaches us Himself. His teachings are just everywhere. How on earth could you have asked me where His teachings can be found?”

Another me said, “Why did you sound so annoyed? I know there is always somehow a bit of room for improvement in me but…”

I said, “Too clumsy. Make it simple. Are you going to receive His teachings?”

Another me said, “How to receive?”

I said, “Seek proactively, listen carefully, receive with no hesitation and the next step is…”

Another me said, “I’ve learnt a lot in the Bible studies and sermon every week when I’m back to the church. You guys don’t know because I tell nobody and keep all these in mind.”

I said, “No wonder nobody knows. And the next step is, you have to accept, with no screening, all that you’ve learnt and try you best to work all of them out. By the time your good work is everywhere, it’s quite hard that nobody knows.”

Another me said, “You’re delighted at giving me a hard time!”

I said, “You do nothing upon what you’ve learnt, or you screen out some of His teachings that you don’t like, do you still sincerely accept His teachings?”

Another me said, “I don’t agree to what you said. I always to listen to my Lord.”

I said, “You’re always listening for what you want in His teaching but teach Him your preference by acting on only what you like about His teachings and turning a blind eye to what you don’t like about it, aren’t you?”