Service, Constancy, Love
January 01, 2020
Tutoring through the Peake Partnership program gave me two great insights into my
life. First, God has not called me to be a teacher. Second, investing in someone,
even thirty minutes a week, can really change their life for the better. I went to
my first tutoring session really hoping that I’d be able to teach the boys I’d been
assigned to about math and help them advance mentally. I was not prepared for the
way that they would help me grow.
Every Wednesday afternoon I made my way over to Peake Elementary to see my two boys.
At the beginning of my experience, I saw our time as just a tutoring session. I had
a job, and that was to teach them long division or multiplication tables or whatever
the task might’ve been that week. However, as we had more time together, our relationship
grew into something that extended well beyond math. We became buds. Buddies talk about
sports, movies, their families, and whatever else may come up. They were so good at
getting me off topic. I knew what they were up to, but I decided that building a relationship was just as, if not more, important than
lattice multiplication. As these relationships grew through the year, I found a joy in myself that came
from serving them every week. Never had I felt that kind of joy from service, but
those tutoring sessions became the best part of my week.
The best tutoring days were the days around holidays. I’d take them together for the
whole hour, and they always knew it was going to be a good day when that happened.
They’d work super hard on their assignments in the hope of finishing early. The few
times we finished early, I took them outside to play basketball. It was during those
minutes on the basketball court on the playground that I felt best. I saw them so
full of joy, and I felt like they had accepted me into their group as a peer and equal.
I flashed back to my time at that school, on that playground, and remembered how I
felt when I found knew friends and the feeling was very similar.
This last year I found out that God can use whatever time I have for the betterment
of his kingdom. Witnessing doesn’t have to always come through a gospel presentation, but it can come
through service, being consistent, and loving someone like Jesus would. I made two great friends that really changed my life and showed me that service
can bring joy that nothing else can. The tutor side of me hopes they learned enough
math that they won’t need me as a tutor this year, but the side of me that became
friends with them almost hopes they need me again just so that the hour a week I get
to spend with them can continue to be my favorite.
Matt Savage, Junior Biomedical Science Major
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