“He who covers a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates friends.” (Proverbs 17:9)
One of the advantages of growing up next door to the church building was that I was able to sleep in longer on Sunday mornings than others who had to drive to the building.
One morning, I was running really close, and I was shoveling in my “Quisp” or “Quake” cereal (those were my favorites). When I finished, I ran next door, went down the steps and into the teenage class, and as I walked in the door, the teacher asked me to begin the class with a prayer. So I started praying. In fact, I had just finished a prayer moments earlier, just before I gobbled down my cereal. I guess it was because I had just prayed a prayer for my food, I started the prayer this way, “Dear God, Thank you for this day and the blessings in it, and thank you for this food we are about to partake of… (then followed a long pause).”
In my rush, I had said the wrong prayer. I had thanked God for the food we were going to eat, but I was sitting in my teenage Bible class. I was stuck. I was embarrassed. I didn’t know how to recover from this misstatement. I just cleared my throat and hurriedly ended the prayer.
When I ended the prayer by saying, “Amen,” the entire class burst out laughing at me. I was humiliated. But then, out of nowhere, I was rescued by my teacher. He told everyone to be quiet and then said, “I’m surprised that none of you caught on to what Steve just did. In fact, I found it rather insightful. We’re about to study the Bible, and that can be compared to a “feast.” He reminded the class that we even sing a song that says, ‘All things are ready, come to the feast.’ He then thanked me for my insight and perspective, my peers quit laughing, and he began teaching the class.
I must admit, I didn’t hear what he was teaching at that moment. I was still trying to figure out what had just happened. I went from “laughing stock” to being “insightful.” I wondered to myself if the teacher knew I wasn’t really that insightful but had just made an embarrassing mistake.
Looking back, of course, he knew I had made a mistake. But this man decided to protect me. He took my foolish words and turned them into a spiritual lesson. He lifted me from being an object of ridicule to being a person who was insightful. That act of kindness has remained in my memory all these years, and it challenges me to return the favor to others. We all need to remember that love seeks to protect the weaknesses in others, not expose them. Give it some thought.
I sympathize with you because when I was in high school, we began each day with reading a scripture and prayer. I was asked to lead the prayer and I did the same thing you did. I thanked God for our food. My English teacher was not quite as thoughtful as your teacher. He just told the class to quit laughing and of course I was humiliated. I’ll never forget that embarrassing time. I hope God has forgotten it.