If you have something to teach, teach without feeling superior to those who know less than you. There would be no point in your being a teacher unless there were those who didn't know what you know. You know something more only because you know it now. Once you did not.
You are on a ladder and you help someone up a rung. That is the most you can do. Many helped you as well. Where you stand on the ladder does not make you a taller person. It just happens to be where you stand on the ladder.
The world is a kindergarten, and you are the teacher of it. If you are not a teacher, then you are a sponsor. Likely, to someone else, you may be the kindergartener. It balances out.
Underneath the knowledge and the ignorance, you are My plain simple child, and you are loved beyond any measure you conceive of. And so is everyone.
As a teacher in kindergarten, you are not surprised when the children don't know how to read or what to think or how to behave. You are there to be the bridge they walk on to another land.
What are you on earth for if not to be a bridge?
Even those who are on a bridge seemingly far beneath — they are often a bridge for you. The distinction between teacher and learner is obscured. All are teachers and all are learners. Be a great teacher and be a great learner.
What teaching is really about is exchanging love. It is a barter system. When you give knowledge, you are giving your love of knowledge. When you accept knowledge, you are accepting it with love. Without love, there is only mimic. It is not knowledge. It is a trifle.
True sharing of knowledge is a very intimate thing. No matter how universal, it is very personal. Eyes meet, and something is exchanged. Love for teaching and love for learning are exchanged. Giver and receiver are melded.
On the occasion of loving learning, leaves on trees ring like bells. The sky does a jig. Clouds furl in and out. Bees buzz and butterflies wave their wings. Flowers give their nectar. Birds sing. There is an electricity in the air.
Let this be an everyday occurrence.
Learn, learn, learn. Teach, teach, teach. Receiving and giving. Which is mightier? Neither.
There is something for you to learn today, just as there is something for you to teach. You do not even have to know what it is that you learn or what you teach, but an exchange will be made.
Someone's thought will reach yours.
It could be a word on a page, written thousands of years ago in a far-off land, and today you receive the message. Message received and accepted. And a thought of yours roams the world and alights on a heart you don't quite — remember.
You will be surprised who your teachers are. You will be surprised who learns from you. And it is all indistinguishable, this mingling of hearts. Hearts are melted. That is good enough.
Today, be alert to learning, and learn as if it is the most natural thing in the world. It is not specious.
As for teaching, let it come from you unnoticed. It is no special favor you give. Be glad and grateful for those who happen to learn something from Me through you.