You’re in a third-grade classroom;
And as you may have guessed,
The kids are in the middle of
A trying spelling test.

Then, with frustration on her face,
One student shouts a plea;
And begging for the answer, cries,
“Teacher, spell it out for me!”

Yet, the teacher doesn’t answer—
Though she smiles for she knows,
That as her student struggles
That’s how she learns and grows.

   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~

The world’s a giant classroom,
And as you’ve probably guessed,
We’re the learning students
In a trying mortal test.

And sometimes in frustration
When the answer we can’t see,
We cry out to the heavens,
“God, spell it out for me!”

But in God’s greater wisdom,
He doesn’t take our trials;
But as we work to solve them,
He ever watchful, smiles.

---

I am an engineer.  I like math.  Math makes scense.  The answer is write or wrong.  I no that ate minus six equals too.  English, on the other hand, is something else altogether.  I’m not a speller, as you might have guessed!  Why, may I ask, are there three forms of there?  There, their, they’re.  Than there is then and than . . . or should it be then?  Who knows (or cares)? 

And don’t even get me started on wait verses weight.  For the love of Shakespeare, why are we adding all those extra letters in there?  “They are silent,” my mom used to tell me.  Oh, that’s logical . . . .  Well it doesn’t follow the “‘i’ before ‘e’” rule either (neither does either I should point out).  “Yes, it does,” Mom says again, “because the rule is ‘‘i’ before ‘e’ EXCEPT after ‘c’ OR when sounded as ‘a’ as in neighbor and weigh.’”  Totally crazy, why even have a rule if there are so many exceptions?  And should I bring up the word either again?  No, better to leave insanity alone! 

With this background, I think you will understand why the story I am about to share resonated with me.  A woman I know teaches elementary school.  She was giving her students a spelling test one day and inadvertently spelled out the word for the class.  The kids laughed and ever since, whenever they are in a spelling test and hit a particularly hard word, one of the boys will shout, “Spell it out for me!”

I was thinking about this story when this poem came to mind.  Whether we like math or English, history or science, we are all in the same test together—the test of mortality.  No two tests are the same.  They are personalized for each of us individually.  They are designed to help us grow and reach our full, eternal potential.

And weather we get the answer perfectly write every time or knot, in this test, their are points four trying!

Written: January 30, 2017