I will not talk in class. Write this sentence 100 times; it is due tomorrow! The homework assignment punishing my entire 5th grade class angered me. The teacher's stern words pierced my heart.
I remember thinking, “This is ridiculous to spend time after school writing a useless sentence.” I realize now why I dreaded school; today it’s called attention deficit disorder.
I spent many hours each night laboring over homework assignments. “How am I going to complete this stupid assignment in addition to my daily homework?” Internally, I protested the boondoggle assignment.
Little did I know that punishment in 5th grade would transform into a gift. After writing those 6 words 100 times, I learned how to memorize anything, although unapparent to that 5th grader.
It’s true, “The weakest ink is more enduring than the strongest memory.” I confess; today, I am thankful for that boondoggle assignment which gave me strength and a coping technique I used while waiting in the hospital.
My husband had successfully battled congestive heart failure for six years until a sudden and severe infection violently attacked his already weakened heart. After the fourth time in the hospital during a three month period, he was officially put on the heart transplant only eleven days after he was admitted.
While he fought for his life, I battled the silence and the waiting. I read magazines and newspapers. I listened and watched people. I prayed.
With the attention span of a gnat, I decided to memorize a Bible verse which had caught my eye as a car with a personalized license plate drove by. I was not familiar with the verse, “Rom. 15:13.”
I counted the number of words in the verse, Romans 15:13, thirty-one words to be exact. “Not too many words; quick to write; at least it would keep my hands busy.” I purchased a journal in the hospital gift shop and returned to the intensive care waiting room. I began writing the verse over and over again.
Imagine my surprise when the verse effortlessly spilled from my lips as I recited it to my daughter. “Mom, when did you learn that verse?” My response, “I’ve had a lot of time to wait, to think, and to write.”
Angela Scott, http://www.thatstorylady.com Angela encourages, inspires and motivates non-readers and those who live and work with them to discover hope.
Visit my website to read more about ways you can discover hope and change your life.
Angela H. Scott
© June 23, 2007
Source: www.isnare.com
