Last week I was sitting at my desk during registration when one of the girls in my class rushed up to me. “Miss,” she said quietly “I found this by the lockers.” She handed me a small, square Tupperware container with a blue lid. Inside it was some sort of white powder. I turned the container over in my hands and thought it rather strange, but did what I usually do when things are found in my classroom. I asked the girls if it belonged to any of them and was met by 26 blank stares. Suddenly the bell rang and the girls rushed to pack away their books and files. I greeted them and put the little Tupperware down with the other items on my lost property shelf, not really thinking about it.
The next day, I opened up my classroom early and remembered the strange little container. I took another look at the white powder. I had assumed it was salt or sugar, but now I realised that it didn’t look like either of them. Uh oh! Suddenly a thought rushed through my head, what if it was something dodgy? Scenes from ‘Dangerous Minds’ and other American teenage movies flashed through my head. What if it was some type of drug? My registration class looked so sweet and innocent, surely none of them would be involved in such things? I couldn’t help but be worried about the contents of this little container.
I decided that I needed a second opinion so I showed the little container to my colleague (a cooking expert.) She opened the container and shuffled the powder around. We both looked down at the mysterious substance with nervous curiosity. She then bravely did something I had been afraid to do, she tasted a small portion of it. She still couldn’t identify it.
In the next 30 minutes, I asked a Science teacher if she knew what this mysterious substance was and she too looked on the little container with confusion. She suggested I report it to the school’s management, which I did. Two members of management (also Science teachers) looked at the tiny container with worried expressions and advised me that they would try to establish what it was.
That night I was pondering the mystery of the substance in the little Tupperware container. Some other colleagues suggested that it was something like corn flour or glucose, but how would any of those things end up in my classroom? I really hoped that it wasn’t anything serious.
The following day I received feedback from the teachers on management. The Science teachers had started to do tests on the powder. They checked to see if it was soluble and were about to do more tests. Our PE teacher saw how serious they were about discovering what the substance was and decided that they were taking too long to test it. She grabbed the container and tasted the powder. The mystery was solved – the substance was in fact...bicarbonate of soda.
When I look back on all of this now, I can’t help but find it funny how I was all freaked out over a small Tupperware container filled with bicarb! But, the truth is, we are all freaked out by the unknown. We get anxious because we don’t know what will happen in the future, we feel concerned about the unknown outcome of a new venture. We fear the unknown so much that we often don’t take risks.
What I have learnt though is that despite how scary the unknown can be, the one we face it with is faithful. ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’ (Hebrews 13:8.) God remains the same no matter what situation we are in. When we face the unknown, He will be the same known God who loves us and provides for us. With that knowledge, the unknown doesn’t seem so intimidating to me anymore. We don’t need to be anxious about what the future will hold because we know that God will be looking out for us.
“The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:24)
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