I think the biggest lesson God is teaching me in my first ceramics wheel-throwing class is EMPATHY. When it has taken me 26.5 hours of practice just to get a 6" cylinder, I realize that this is how some of my students feel when learning Chinese Brush Painting, for one example...something that comes so easily to me. After 4 1/2 hours at the wheel today, mudwrestling and mudslinging my way through the hours, I just wanted to lay on my aching back on the floor and have a tantrum (not really, but that's how frustrated I felt!