When Is It Due?

“When is it due?”

My 7th Grade class just finished the book “Bruchko.” Their final project is to write a 5-paragraph essay in which they must choose three forms of conflict in the book and explain how those conflicts help to advance the plot. I have a very detailed lesson plan for this project. I have writing organizers that teach how to write a thesis statement, an introductory paragraph, topic sentences, body paragraphs, transitions, a concluding paragraph, and how to restate their thesis. I have PowerPoint presentations that we go through for each element. Once I teach an element of the paper, I review it the next day before I teach the next element. I have the lesson all planned out, step by step, everything ready to be taught and explained when it’s the right time— building my students’ understanding as each concept is learned. 

And the first thing my students wanted to know before I even began the first lesson was, “When is this due?” Followed by a barrage of panicked questions— “How do I…? What does…? What is…?” I hadn’t even begun the lesson, and the first thing they wanted to know was when it would be finished. I hadn’t even opened my mouth to begin teaching them, and their first impulse was to demand answers based on their lack of understanding. And after work that day, when I was walking out to my car thinking about the panic and fear on the faces of my sweet little 7th Graders’ faces earlier in the day, the Holy Spirit said, “You do that.”

Jesus said that everyone who hears from the Father will learn from Him. Problem is, many of us are not willing to sit through the lesson. Before the Lord even opens His mouth to speak, we ask, “When is this due? What will be accomplished?” His lesson plan is meticulously laid out, designed to build our understanding as each concept is learned, but we ask questions and demand answers before we give Him the opportunity to teach us any of it. 

We’re like Martha, “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made,” when we should be like Mary, “who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what [Jesus] said.”

(John 6:45) It is written in the Prophets: “And they will all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me…

(Heb 8:10,11) For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.

(1 John 2:27) And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.