WORDS
TO TREASURE

Topics: Affirmation; Encouragement; Heart; Teachers

References: Romans 12:6–8; Colossians 4:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:11

“In an earlier grade, I’d taped Mark’s mouth shut for talking too much in class. Now he was one of my students in junior high math,” wrote Sister Helen Mrosia.

One Friday, in a break from work, the teacher asked her students to write the nicest thing they could about each other and hand it in. She compiled the results for each student and, on Monday, gave out the lists.

Several years later, Mark was killed in Vietnam. After the funeral, many classmates gathered with Mark’s parents and Sister Mrosia for lunch. Mark’s father took a wallet out of his pocket. “They found this on Mark when he was killed,” he said. He carefully removed a folded, refolded, and taped paper—on which the teacher had listed the good things Mark’s classmates had said about him.

Other students responded. Charlie smiled sheepishly and said, “I keep my list in my desk drawer.”

Chuck’s wife said, “Chuck put his in our wedding album.”

“I have mine, too, in my diary,” Marilyn said.

Vicky reached into her pocketbook and brought out her frazzled list.

—John Trent, Choosing to Live the Blessing (WaterBrook, 1997)