The Dumb Row

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. 1 John 3:2 (NIV)

When I was in fifth and sixth grade I was in a math class where the teacher seated the students in order of their intelligence. Really, it's true! Having taught my cousins in years past, she recognized the last name. Because of that, she had already decided my fate. I would be seated in the dreaded "dumb row". She would look over the top of her glasses and peer down the row with disgust on her face. I was so thankful I wasn't in the very front seat; I was about the fourth seat back.

In my mind that experience labeled me for life. I always felt inept and dumb. I could not get beyond the dumb row mentality. How can that affect you? When seeds are planted, they grow. Maybe not well, but they try. According to the type of soil in which they are planted is how they will grow. My seeds grew spindly and weak, no light and no water except for the sweat being whisked from the brows of the smart people. I never received nourishment.

Have you been labeled by someone? Have you yourself been guilty of labeling? To what have you been associated? I know that the most important association I will ever have is my "Heavenly Father". That is one name I desire to be associated with. My seating in His classroom has me at the front of the smart row where air, light and water are abundant.

Father, I am so thankful that my name is in your book, that I am included in your family, and that you have provided everything I need to live, grow and be nourished, and to make smart choices.

Becki Reiser