An Educator's Fast

"Is this not the fast which I chose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke. Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth; and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the Lord will be your rear gaurd. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your gloom will become like midday." Isaiah 58:6-10

When I see my students, I hear God's call to the fast He chooses. They are youth who are enslaved by the bonds of wickedness their births and life have put on them. They are hopeless and angry because their past is burdening their present, and their future is destitute. They are bound by bonds of wickedness that others have placed on them and they have become like their captors. I hear the call of God to loose the bonds of wickedness, to break the yoke of their poverty and ignorance. I am charged with more than being and educator; I am a liberator - offering not just liberation from ignorance, but light for their spiritual darkness.

If I only help my students to know their math facts, I have failed the fast of God. I show them that there is the One who can set the captives free.