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Spiritual Reflections of an Educator for Back-to-School

Spiritual Reflections of an Educator for Back-to-School

Last updated on: August 26, 2026 at 12:00 pm by Lee Ann B. Marino

Spiritual Reflections of an Educator for Back-to-School 2026-06-26T01:24:30-04:00 Lee Ann B. Marino

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Many don’t know that before I went into ministry, I was a teacher. Teaching wasn’t something that interested me, nor anything I planned on doing. Everyone told me for years what a great teacher I would be, and yes, I ignored them. How my first job became a teaching position, I am still unsure. I was 15 years old, teaching for a second grade church retreat. My first regular classroom position came a year later, teaching religion for fifth graders. Then, when I found I enjoyed the job (minus administration politics), several teaching jobs would come and go. I spent years as an English teacher and tutor for immigrants who didn’t speak English natively, a few years teaching preschool as part of a church outreach program, and now, I teach seminary.

It’s hard to fathom that students I had years ago are now in their late 30s…and the adults I taught are now even older. As my ministry call became stronger than the call to educate in the classroom, I knew it was time to follow God for something greater, and I assumed my time for teaching had passed. Little did I know that with ministry comes a great deal of teaching. In honor of back-to-school, here are spiritual reflections I’ve had as an educator.

Woman in a green shirt teaching young students

Photo by RDNE Stock project: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-in-green-long-sleeves-teaching-kids-in-school-8363163/

Spiritual education

When preaching is done right, it is a lesson in spiritual education. Spiritual reflections, for both those who receive the lesson and those who provide it, should follow. Several years ago, I started a Scripture Study Series to educate new disciples in the Scripture. It wasn’t a planned effort (just like ever teaching anybody, period), and yet I led in the instruction of rightly dividing the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV). Even though I had no idea what I was doing, God was with me. Somehow, it all worked unto fruition.

Different kinds of students

Most of my students weren’t in the same countries as one another. Still, they were much like a traditional classroom. In a classroom setting, each student plays their own role. Just like in a classroom, everyone stood out as they received their spiritual reflections.

One student is always totally disinterested. They are just staying long enough to graduate or complete a program. They believe life will be easier outside of school. As the teacher, I was seen as the obstacle to total freedom. These students always want to know if it’s time to graduate or complete the program yet.
Somebody is never paying attention. To this student, everything is more fascinating than the spiritual education at hand. Whether it’s a paper clip, what’s going on outside, or the spit wad that conveniently landed on the back of somebody’s head, focus just isn’t on their agenda.
Somebody always has a question that is answered in the lesson. Then I point out where the answer is and they say, “Oh!”
Then there is always one student that, no matter how many times you go over the material, just doesn’t understand. I want to scream and pull my hair out, but I don’t. I just review the material one more time, and sit and pray that this will be the time they get it. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Then, by the grace of God, I come up with a clever way to explain it, and the light bulb goes off. The crisis passes. Until next time.

Student after student, year after year, I find yourself reinforcing the same basic lessons of learning, life, love, and liberty, to help my students become all they can be through Jesus Christ.

Reminders of the love of God

Reflecting on my days as an educator in the classroom and reflecting on the years when I started working with Bible students from all around the world has given me a new perspective on God’s lessons to us. The words of 2 John 5-6 seem to fit:

“And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.” (KJV)

Notice the wording: John does not beseech to a new commandment, but to something that’s been heard from the beginning. He’s reinforcing something yet again, a message we can’t hear enough. Although teaching can definitely be trying, and there are always a few students that make you wonder why you ever set out to teach, watching your students grow and change and finally master spiritual concepts has a value all its own.

God as our Teacher

It must be that way for God – Who as our Father is also our Teacher – to be able to look down upon us as we develop and grow in spiritual reflections, seeing us change from glory to glory and faith to faith. Just like students, our progress seems slow to us, even though our teacher tells us we’ve advanced. We don’t see ourselves the way that God does, with the same precision, interest and attention. But God watches things that once were a wrestling match for us fade to issues nonexistent, He notices as our spiritual lives improve, and our lives in general, all for the better.

Even today, my students continue to learn from me, The cycle goes on. I continue to learn from God, and from the Scriptures, and lead other people to finding the hope that lies only therein. In closing, I am reminded of Romans 15:4:

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. (KJV)

Whether learning or teaching, both of which we do at some point in our lives, always be reminded of the hope we find as those forever learning the Scriptures.

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About Lee Ann B. Marino

Dr. Lee Ann B. Marino, Ph.D., D.Min., D.D. (”The Spitfire”) is “everyone’s favorite theologian” leading Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z as apostle of SAFE Ministries. Her work encompasses study and instruction on leadership training and development, typology, Pneumatology, conceptual theology, Ephesians 4:11 ministry, and apostolic theology. She is author of over thirty-five books, host of the top twenty percentile podcast Kingdom Now, and serves as founder and overseer of Sanctuary International Fellowship Tabernacle - SIFT and Chancellor of Apostolic Covenant Theological Seminary. Dr. Marino has over twenty-five years of experience in ministry, leadership, counseling, mentoring, education, and business. You can read more about the author here.

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