Selectively Neglect

Since I took early-morning seminary in high school, I've wanted to be a seminary teacher. I love the scriptures. I love how I feel when I read, and mostly I love how I feel when I teach. Best. Calling. Ever.

Lucky for me, too, I am the "Assistant Seminary Teacher", meaning, I team-teach with another awesome sister in the ward. She teaches one week, I teach the next. It's a brilliant system; I highly recommend it. I get to rest for a week; she gets to travel and do all the amazing she does on her week off. Works out beautifully.

I was called to teach seminary when Raeford was three months old--perhaps at the best time for me. Raeford was old enough to not need me ALL the time, and I was ready to not be on constant Mommy-call. The transistion to motherhood has been bumpy for me, bumpy and filled with lots of learning.

The Old Testament is HUGE. I thought I knew most of the stories. WRONG-O. Sure, I knew most of the stories, if I didn't have to teach them to someone else. So, figuring out how to teach these stories in a way that makes sense has been a pleasant challenge. This week we covered the entire book of Judges and Ruth. ENTIRE BOOKS.

Thus, the need to "selectively neglect".

In teaching, I need to selectively neglect stories, themes, symbols, and entire chapters. There's just not enough time. The hope, though, is that I will eventually hit on the same principles in a later lesson. That the feeling of the Old Testament will encourage the students to want to read it for themselves.

This seems to be true in my life outside of seminary, too. I can't possibly do everything all the time. There's too much! Sometimes, it really is necessary to ignore the living room that needs vacuuming because I need to write a letter to a friend.

The principle of "selectively neglect" is a hopeful one. The hope is that eventually I'll come back around to whatever I missed the first time. Just focus on what I need to know/do now and all will work out in the end.

I can do that.