Students who attend Gateway Woods School are often behind in credits for graduation. Their attitudes towards this situation can vary. Some students are not bothered; they find little value in education because believe they know what they need for the future. Other students see graduation as an impossible goal, one that only others can achieve. Some students want to earn credits, but when it comes down to doing the work, they aren’t willing to put forth the effort to review and understand the material. Still other students persevere through the difficult material, completing all the assigned work. They have the end goal of graduation in mind.

Like the parable of the sower and the seed, students come to Gateway Woods School as fallow ground in need of bearing fruit, but they cannot become fruitful on their own. Some of them do not yet see a need for God. Others have fully accepted the world’s teaching, believing that they can’t find God. Some of the students know that the seed is good, but the thorns and thistles of past desires or addictions choke out the truth we try to plant.

Each weed must be carefully rooted out. Christ calls us to sow the seed in their lives whether the soil is yet ready to receive it or not.

As a teacher, I can sometimes become discouraged. Have I sowed in vain? Will my work ever produce fruit? All seeds require a time of germination, and sometimes, the seed flourishes with the care and attention it receives. Students blossom and produce wonderful growth here. This brings joy to my heart as a teacher. Yet I know that I only plant the seed; God causes it to flourish. How much greater must His pleasure be when we, His children, apply ourselves to growing and flourishing in our understanding of Him? We must allow Him to teach us of Himself. His patience with us when we are slow to learn is so much greater than what we as people can ever manage!