green crystals

this has been a week of green crystals for me
no, i didn't take a journey to the emerald city
although i did imagine green crystals that looked like emeralds

i actually had no idea what the crystals would look like
all i knew was they'd be green

i'd never seen them and i'd never made them
but i was going to be "teaching" my gen chem AND inorganic lab class how to make some sort of green crystals
i've read the lab manual about how you make them
i've done this type of thing at least once or twice before
but other than the fact that they are described as "green",
      i was at a loss of what to expect
i didn't know what the initial colors of the solutions would be
i didn't know how it would change as solutions were mixed together
i didn't know if the crystals would be big or small,
     if they would grow quickly or slowly...

so it was a bit of an adventure for me as their tour guide
i was on the lookout for the destination alongside them,
but i'd never been to the sight we were headed toward

though i've not before walked the path we took yesterday and today,
i've navigated many like it before
so although i wasn't able to give them a heads up to look for certain sights along the way,
i was able to use the intuition that has been built up on my journeys before in order to help them along
it was especially fun to share the excitement of first time discoveries with them
i was able to join them in awe and in perplexity

my gen chem students combined iron with some organic ligands
     and got neon green spiky crystals
my inorganic students combined cobalt with some organic ligands
     and got forest green tiny sand-like crystals

it was fun to be a part of their work
it made me think about mentoring and discipleship in a new light
sometimes i think of the mentor as passing along what they have already learned and received,
but it isn't simply a downloading of what one knows to another person
the student is probably not trying to make the same type of crystals we've made previously
so they benefit in their journey from intuition we've developed on our own journeys
and we attempt to apply what we know and have experienced to give them wisdom as they travel along
we sit back puzzled with them when things go a bit awry
we celebrate alongside them when they find something new

i'm tentative to teach something i've never done myself
but i think it stretches me in a good way as a teacher and a mentor
to speak from a place of not having already anticipated the question and formulated an answer
to instead speak from what I know from my past experience and then apply it to the question presented
we discover the answer together
and it is delightful when the light bulbs in me and in them go off together