On Teaching: "Being like Children"

I have often marveled at Jesus’ statement that we must become like children in order to enter what he called “the kingdom of God”, and lately I’ve been considering how it might apply to my teaching. Surprisingly, his statement seems to suggest that, if I want to discover the highest joys of teaching (the “kingdom”), I need to actually study my students and be more like them! This is a bit of a shock, since I have always thought of it in the opposite way – that my students should study and imitate me. Could it be that I have been utterly inattentive all these years – that I have missed the lessons my young students have been trying to teach me? For instance, perhaps they’ve been trying to teach me the importance of obedience. Right in front of me, day after day, these children in my class demonstrate the ability to listen to someone (their English teacher), accept what he’s saying as important, and then perform the activities he assigns. They don’t question it. They know the work has to be done, and they do it. Perhaps I could learn from this. The earth turns in surprising ways, and the universe continues its astonishing journey, and, like my students, I need to learn to do what is required of me as the miraculous days unfold. In a sense, I am assigned a task to perform each moment of my life (typing on the keyboard now, making coffee in a few moments, etc.), and I simply need to obey. I am given an assignment every second of the day, and I must do each of them to the best of my ability, without questioning or complaining, as my compliant students do.
I hope I can be more attentive to my 42 young teachers from now on.