A “D Minus” Circumstance

Bart Simpson from the episode, “Bart Get’s An F” from the Fox series, “The Simpsons” (c) Fox Television, 2013

“The Simpsons” episode, “Bart Get’s An F,” is the most memorable and relatable for me.

In this episode, Bart Simpson faces the possibility of being held back a grade if he doesn’t pull his grades up. Once he uses up all his resources, from cheating to just getting a tutor, he resorts to prayer. He prays for something to delay school the next day. A snow storm rolls in and delays school and he attempts to study, but fails to actually concentrate. He takes the test and fails it, but when the teacher sees that he actually retained something from the test, the teacher changes the test to at least a D minus. Bart passes

As Homer, Bart’s father, hangs his test on the fridge door, Bart tells his dad at the end that, “part of this D minus belongs to God.”

When I first saw this episode, it aired during a time that I was facing similar troubles which actually caused me to sympathize with Bart. To an extent, of course!

Facing the threat of either being held back a grade or sent to Summer school, my parents arranged for one of my cousins to tutor me in math. To add to that, I was already in special education math courses. But everything that could possibly be done was being done in order to keep me from failing the state standardized test, specifically the math portion.

I was frustrated, angry, panicked and really stressed out about it! Its not that I wanted to fail, I just could never get or understand math for one reason or another.

After I prayed and asked God to help me with the test, I got a somewhat interesting prayer answer as well. Instead of being held back, I was sent to Summer school for half of the summer. I was officially able to transition to the 7th grade.

That was my “D Minus.”

I remember I was still quite disappointed about the fact that half of my summer would be spent inside the very place I desperately wanted to stay away from. But, at the same time, I was grateful.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says the following:

in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

I think this is the point that God was making with me. I don’t think he was looking for me to experience a Bart Simpson type of faith experience, but to be able to give thanks in the circumstance.

The end result doesn’t always come to an A plus or a B minus! Just be thankful for the D minus experience.

You want to strive for higher than that, don’t get me wrong! But, I was grateful that day. I was able to genuinely give thanks in that circumstance.

It prepared me to give thanks in other future challenges and circumstances.