No Pain, No Gain

As I'm coming to an end with my school contract, this is the last time I will have to grade all the school writing tests of the semester. The two topics for this semester that I've seen so far have been:
-writing a letter of apology or gratitude to parents
-writing a letter of apology or gratitude to family members/friends.

It's amazing to see how many students shout, lie, steal, and forget when it comes to their loved ones. Foreign language students are also brutally honest with their faults, so I read some pretty sincere stuff around this time of the year. And of course, I also get a handful of letters that say some of the most ridiculous things, intended or not. This year, one of the students wrote a letter of thanks to his grandfather saying:

I hope you are getting better from your cancer. Grandpa! No pain, No gain.

Probably not the best time to use American mottos to a dying relative, but you can see the encouragement behind the words. It's also funny seeing futile attempts at kissing my butt with finishing words of "I love you, Mr. Jung" written inside a lopsided heart with happy faces. I wonder if this is a tiny experience of what God sees and hears with our prayers. I probably crack Him up all the time.

Thought of the Day: 40 minutes