Grandma's One Room School

            “I learned the three R’s in a one-room school. Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic taught to the tune of a hickory stick.” The lady I called Grandma often repeated stories from her childhood. Her tales about  a one-room school with twelve grades were my favorite.

I could visualize the bully who pushed her off the swings, and the older sister who pushed him off and washed her skinned knees. I saw the older student who helped her learn to read, and how she fought to get honor grades.

            As I got older I compared her one-room school to life. In the school of life we learn the three G’s. As predictable as the sun rises and the sun sets the three G’s come. Grief. Grace. Glory.

Grief leads the team and often comes without warning. Relationships are broken. Hurt, guilt and anger knock on our door. Someone gets pushed off the swing and we pick them up, and clean their wounds. Sometimes we get pushed off and only Jesus picks us up. As long as we live on one planet filled with good and bad children we will have conflict and grief.

Grace comes next. God’s grace is what we need to recover from grief, and what we need to release and forgive those who cause the pain. We are admonished in Hebrews twelve to “receive the grace of God, and to watch that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you and others.” Grief can grow a weed called bitterness. This weed will spread through the whole field if we don’t apply the weed killer called grace. We are told to come boldly to His throne to receive grace.

Glory waits patiently to be revealed last. God’s order is grief, grace and then glory. We are changed into his image from glory to glory. Now! Not when you get to heaven. “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us, ” Roman 8:18.

Grief, grace and glory run in cycles throughout our life. Grandma fought hard to receive an honor grade in her one-room school.  We fight hard to receive glory in our schoolroom called life.