"Back to School - The School of Life"
~ By Merryl Lentz

Welcome to class! Everyone take your seats. You - yes you - put your phone away. You can check how many Likes your pet hamster got on Facebook later.

This classroom is Life. Whether you're going back to school, or this curriculum is new to you, all are welcome. We might even say that Spirituality is the teacher. Sometimes the homework may not be easy, but every experience can become a lesson. We can learn through:

• Relationships - We can learn about boundaries, forgiveness and compassion.
• Joy - We can learn about gratitude and being in the moment.
• Challenges - We can learn about resilience, trust and patience.
• Loss - We can learn about acceptance and valuing what we have.
• Silence - We can learn about our inner voice and discovering who we are.
• Mistakes - We can learn how to grow.
• Love - We can learn how to open our hearts and be vulnerable.

If  you consider spirituality a teacher, its textbooks have chapters that each have something to teach:

• Some chapters teach us how to begin.
• Some teach us how to begin again.
• Some teach us how to continue.
• Some teach us how to let go.
• Some teach us how to love.

Did you ever have a subject in school that you hated? Similarly, Life may not always give us the lesson we want. But it can give us the lesson we need.

And you may be presented with a class you need to take over.....and over....and over, as Life offers a lesson again and again, although sometimes in different forms. The teacher may be looking over your shoulder and murmuring, "Take a closer look. There is something here you haven't fully understood yet."

Some of the deepest spiritual lessons can come from something we would never have intentionally chosen:

• A difficult relationship may teach us self-respect.
• A disappointment may redirect our path.
• A closed door may force us to discover another one.
• A period of confusion may lead us toward greater clarity.

Life is a big classroom where you don't need textbooks, notebooks, or an apple for the teacher. All you need is a willingness to learn.