Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students - Ellen G. White

Sometimes the teacher carries into the
schoolroom the shadow of darkness that has been
gathering on his soul. He has been overtaxed and is
nervous, or dyspepsia has colored everything a
gloomy hue. He enters the schoolroom with
quivering nerves and irritated stomach. Nothing
seems to be done to please him; he thinks that his
pupils are bent on showing him disrespect; and his
sharp criticisms and censure are given on the right
hand and on the left. Perhaps one or more of the
students commits errors or is unruly. The case is
exaggerated in his mind, and he is severe and
cutting in his reproof of the one whom he thinks at
fault. And the same injustice afterward prevents
him from admitting that he has taken a wrong
course. To maintain the dignity of his position, he
has lost a golden opportunity to manifest the spirit
of Christ, perhaps to gain a soul for heaven.
It is the duty of each teacher to do all in his
power to present his body to Christ a living
sacrifice, physically perfect, as well as morally free
from defilement, that Christ may make him a co-
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