The next day, Saturday, Helen took those papers and compiled a list for each student of what others in the class liked about them. On Monday she gave each student a paper with what other classmates had written about them. The atmosphere in the class changed instantly; her students were smiling again. Helen overheard one student whisper, "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" The students were happy with themselves and one another again. It was time to continue with their math lessons, and no one ever said anything about those papers again.

Years passed. Students came and went. Then the class was suddenly brought together again as young adults, and Helen's former students gathered around her. One of them had something to show her. Opening his wallet, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped and refolded many times. Helen knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things of each classmate. She was amazed as another former student told her that she still kept her list in the top drawer of her desk at home. Another had placed his list in his wedding album. Still another classmate took out her wallet, showed her worn and frazzled list to the group, and said she carried it with her everywhere she went. Helen was simply overwhelmed.

Whoever would have thought that what a teacher did out of desperation on a Friday afternoon would have such a lasting effect on her students? You never know. You never know how something you or I might do might affect someone else. The funny thing is that we may not even think that what we did was all that important, but to another person it made a world of difference. Jesus taught us that the kingdom of God is like that.

Ron Newhouse