A Spiritual Report Card

As another school year comes to an end, I am reminded of the first scholastic report card my son ever received. He had just completed his first semester of kindergarten, and the grading was based on the following scale: M = Mastery, S = Satisfactory, N = Needs Improvement, and U = Unsatisfactory.

I’m happy to report that Jeremy performed very well that inaugural term of his educational career. But the reason I remember that report card so vividly is the way my son’s teacher presented his grades.  She provided me a very thorough picture of his development. In addition to a typical report card containing a list of subjects followed by a letter grade as described above, she enclosed a special report that proved to be a unique and extremely helpful evaluation tool.

First, she listed all the things she expected the children in her class to have learned and accomplished by the end of that grading period. Then, alongside each expectation, she had written a detailed description of my son’s progress relative to her plans, not just in relation to her other students.

As I reviewed this information, I was grateful for this teacher’s sensitivity and the extra time it must have taken for her to prepare such a useful tool for helping my son get off to a good start in school. I was also genuinely moved as I was reminded of how much her approach to evaluating her students’ progress was like the Lord’s approach to evaluating ours.

He has a lesson plan for us you know. We’ve all heard, “God has a wonderful plan for your life,” but it’s really true. By His Spirit, He is at work right this minute leading each of us into our highest potential in Him.

Like Jeremy’s teacher, He periodically issues spiritual “report cards” in order to help us keep on track toward our destiny. In the context of His loving concern, in the privacy of our hearts, and with great sensitivity He evaluates our progress.

However, He never compares us to others. Instead, He helps us see ourselves from His perspective – encouraging us with reflections on how far we’ve come while instilling in us a vision for continued advance with lessons from previous points of failure. Love compels Him to show us the good and the bad. But, whenever He issues an N, He always shows us exactly what went wrong, and more importantly, how He plans to help us turn our N’s into M’s.

We’re all like little children in the care of a Teacher who loves us more than words can tell. And as life thrusts you forward with the subtlety of an avalanche, be sure to make time to spend with Him. Before charting your own course for the future by the process of regrets and resolutions, I encourage you to allow His infinite wisdom to impact your life and point the way.