He just wasn't getting it.
Girl, hurl, curl & twirl all sound alike, but are spelled differently. It's amazing how difficult the English language is when you think about it. Conceptually, he didn't have a clue. He didn't know whether to use the letters "i" and "u," therefore we ended up with words like gurl and hirl.
Complicating matters, he was tempted to spell girl, grl or hurl, hrl, omitting vowels altogether. Bless his heart. I could tell he was getting frustrated.
About half way though our 30 minute session, he began sobbing uncontrollably, saying: "If I don't pass this test I won't be promoted to 2nd grade; they'll make me go to summer school." He kept saying it over and over as long tears rolled down his little cheeks.
And he was right. He's flunking everything--his teacher told me so. But seeing him cry was breaking my heart.
Then the next spelling word came up: serve.
Though it was just another spelling word to him, it hit me like a message from God. It's time to serve, Mark. Don't blow it. You can either be a blessing or a curse. I'm depending on you. Big tears welled up in my eyes. I was overwhelmed with emotions & needed a minute to compose myself.
Pausing to think, I told this precious child how proud I was of him-- that he was doing better than last time (which is absolutely true!). And that he needed to slow down, relax and sound things out. He listened. The tears stopped & he looked at me with beaming eyes. We tried again, and he got them all right this time! Go figure.
Yes, he's on the verge of flunking 1st grade, but I received a message from God today. Though I had shown up for a simple tutoring session, I was being asked to be a blessing, not a curse; to give a word of hope when it was needed most. Just thinking about this experience brings back the tears because it wasn't about me, it was about God. Without question.
Spending time with him made my day. I couldn't (and still can't) think of a better place to be. And I hope, with God's help, that he passed his spelling test. God bless you dear child.