Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the things we’re thankful for.
At the top of my list right now is how thankful I am that I was one of the many students blessed to learn from Mrs. Marion Ann Ledbetter.
Mrs. Ledbetter, who died Friday, was a positive influence on countless lives during her long career in education. She was a beautiful woman whose inner beauty shined even brighter.
She was one of the best there ever was.
Mrs. Ledbetter was my fourth grade teacher, and she would later serve as an administrator when I was in high school.
In her fourth grade class, we memorized Bible verses each week. I can still remember many of them, including the first one she wrote on that chalkboard way back in 1985.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
I wasn’t exactly sure about what the “wages of sin,” meant at the time, but all of us understood the concept of eternal life through Christ. She made sure of that. That was an important time for me to have such a strong teacher on the subject. My grandfather died when I was in her class, and it was the first time I ever experienced the loss of someone I loved.
She had a gift for recognizing your talents and making you feel like those things made you special. I loved to read, and she encouraged it. I worked harder because I wanted to impress her.
While I was strong at reading and creative things, I wasn’t very good at math. I remember her saying, “Jason, it’s like you have a block in your head when it comes to math,” one time after an unimpressive showing on a test. That was an accurate description.
But she didn’t give up on me.
Mrs. Ledbetter was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known, but she wouldn’t hesitate to be firm when you needed a dose of reality.
I regularly required reality checks, especially when I was a teenager, and Mrs. Ledbetter never failed to deliver.
But the thing about being disciplined by her that affected me the most wasn’t the punishment itself. It was the fact that I knew she was disappointed in me.
That always got my attention because I knew she loved me even when she wasn’t happy with me – and I knew she was right.
I know that there are many people whose lives Mrs. Ledbetter impacted just like mine. All of us can celebrate the fact that we have absolutely no doubt of her destination after she left this life.
I hope that we will also take the time to reflect on the things that she taught us and try to be more like her.
So many people in our culture today are obsessed with celebrities, but it’s everyday people like Mrs. Ledbetter who have the ability to have an actual influence on many lives. We can all be thankful that she took that responsibility seriously.
The world is a much better place because Marion Ann Ledbetter was in a position to influence so many lives. It is now the responsibility of her students to ensure that her legacy lives on.
