While I enjoyed the unique characteristics of every single class, teaching fourth grade was my favorite. In our parish, fourth grade was between sacrament years, so we weren’t working towards any formal culmination and we were charged with teaching more general topics, including the parables. In the interest of full disclosure (and with heartfelt apologies to those fourth grade students), I didn’t (and still don’t, really) totally understand the parables. And then I thought about those fourth grade students. Just like the mustard seed, we are nurtured, and we grow, and then we help others to do the same.