Teaching Gratitude

After a refreshing long weekend, I am now returning to school wondering how we can prolong the ideals we just celebrated.  It's interesting (and even more poignant south of the border) that we finish up celebrating Thanksgiving - the state of being content - and are coaxed quickly to want and desire more (yes, the Christmas shopping season will arrive any day, and the stores will make sure we know!!!)

How do we teach our kids to be thankful; to live in gratitude? As with anything else, we can choose to speak about it, preach about it, discuss it, and cheer it on. BUT, unless we practice it, our (their) lives will never change.

Ann, a favourite blogger of mine, shares her family's experience developing gratitude...  a daily practice that they do to be thankful. They made gratitude lists. These lists began with the obvious:  food, family, friends, God, church, school, a home, etc etc etc.  As the lists continued, however, they were forced to delve more deeply to discover all of the things they take for granted, and actually are thankful for.  Her little experiment had some surprising results, and her follow up research proved that the benefits would reach even further than a state of mind... (you can read more at http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/03/how-to-help-raise-grateful-kids/ )

As parents (and teachers), we can model it:

A number of years ago, I recall trying to get my kids out to the park. It was a typical day where leaving the house became a burden and I wasn't particularly gracious or gentle or forgiving, and certainly not grateful. After a few harsh commands and  finally getting out the door, we were off to the park. As I rounded the corner with our stroller (not looking), I almost knocked someone off of the sidewalk.  My immediate reaction was of apology. I backed up, and the 'almost crashed into person' and I stopped for a friendly conversation. My last words to the man were "I'm so glad you weren't hurt!"

Ten steps down the sidewalk, my toddler son turned in the stroller and asked me to stop. After getting my undivided attention, he said to me "Dad, you are a kind man."  My heart stopped for a moment.  Thankfully, by the grace of God, my kids are influenced by my positive behaviours and not just my not-so-nice ones.  That moment of kindness, thankfulness, and gratitude was noticed by an impressionable toddler, and God saw to it through his little voice that I would never forget that.

So, from now until Christmas.... how are we going to model gratitude for our kids? 

Being plugged into God is a necessary start to living as children of light in a world so desperate to escape darkness. How can we shine light as an alternative to wanting more 'stuff'? Maybe I'll start a gratitude list.  How about you and your family?

For God so loved the WORLD

It is interesting to write here about International Emphasis week having just seen "The Diary of Anne Frank" this weekend in Stratford.  The setting, of course, is an international conflict involving the violent project by the Nazi regime to invade Europe and to 'cleanse' those nations of races 'not fit'.  It's a terrible chapter of our recent history, and I'm thankful that the telling lives on in stories like Anne's. In it, we witness the courage of a family who, like so many others at their own peril, chose to welcome in the stranger, despite difference of race, of religion, and native language.  This act of 'WITH'-ness is inspiring for us even today.

  
During our International Emphasis week, we will investigate in a number of ways, how we walk 'WITH' others from various countries other than our own.  We often get caught up in our own very familiar world where most of our neighbours are like us.  The story of Pentecost is an interesting place to start.  When the Holy Spirit came into the room and lived in each of the disciples, they did not speak one language to all of the international visitors to the city.  "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages.." Acts 2:4

We began on Friday in chapel by watching a photo montage of people from all over the world.  Students were challenged to look at the images and remind themselves that God so loved the world.....  Christ died for all!

Students this week will be asked to listen to someone speak in a different language, and perhaps even learn a favourite song or Bible verse in a different language.    In a real way, we will experience some of the wonder of that Pentecost here at Covenant:  Acts 2:1b: "we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"

Plugging in to the Spirit's power, we can shine as children of light, here in Smithville, and exploring the world.

Power - Reflection or Distortion?

The selection of this year's theme as Plugging in to God's power was not coincidental.  It was chosen carefully to align with some of what our Christian support organizations are focussing on.  This past week, Mr. Kamphuis, Mrs. Desjardins and myself had the privilege of joining 60 other Christian School Administrators at a conference entitled "Power to Empower".  It was a rich time of sharing, building up, encouraging, and digging deep into God's word and the words of Christian writers on the topic of power.

We all have and use power - parents, teachers, even students exercise power in their day-to-day interactions.  Andy Crouch (author of "Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power") identifies that each of us in our use of power will either reflect or distort the image we bear of our Creator.  From Christianity Today Magazine: "[A new conversation about power] would acknowledge, indeed insist, that power is a gift—the gift of a Giver who is the supreme model of power used to bless and serve. Power is not given to benefit those who hold it. It is given for the flourishing of individuals, peoples, and the cosmos itself. Power's right use is especially important for the flourishing of the vulnerable, the members of the human family who most need others to use power well to survive and thrive: the young, the aged, the sick, and the dispossessed."

As we exercise the power each of us has been granted in our particular position in society, are we using our power and influence to help others (especially the weak and vulnerable) flourish?  In other words, is our power being used to empower? Power is not for personal gain.  Pray that our students may learn to rightly use their power to empower through our teaching, and through the models they see around them each day.

Building Community

In our planning of the year along with HOW and WHAT we teach at Covenant, each division has adopted a number of what we call 'Throughlines'.  Throughlines, simply put, are themes in our Christian walk that will shine through all of what we do and learn.  Essentially, once we know and accept the story of God's redemptive lordship over all of life, throughlines attempt to answer the question "How now shall we live?"

In our initial staff meetings, we chose which of 10-12 throughlines we would emphasize in each of our grade levels.  Once our discussions were through, it was evident that every single grade level wanted to emphasize 'Building Community' as a class.  At that point, it was obvious that this was to become a whole school focus.

As I write this, the grade 3/4 class is abuzz in the lobby helping the JK class with a project "God helps us to Grow" involving life sized cutouts of themselves.  Their skills and abilities at their age are being put to use helping others who cannot yet tackle such a big undertaking.  Along the way, great relationships are being formed and a shared pride over their beautiful work is a result!  

As a way to build community across the school, each of our classes has a buddy class to do similar things through the year.  It's just one small way of many that we are intentionally living out what God would have us do.

Routines, Habits, and Love???????

The beginning of week two in a school year marks that we have actually arrived, and that the school year is now definitely in motion.  This week in my home, there have been many different indications of this as the summer season winds down, and many other seasons wind up.  Sports, arts and music lessons, church programs, community programs all are gearing up and our calendars begin to fill with meetings, practices, and engagements.  It can leave one feeling overwhelmed at family commitments.  Good things can become a drain on us and on our families if we are not careful.

These next few weeks are critical to set good family habits, and to ensure that your kids adopt good routines for school work, home chores, church functions, and even sleep.  Providing a set time each day that works for your family, and for your child (everyone learns differently - including time of day) will develop a routine that they can count on and grow to appreciate as they will be able to accomplish the work that they need to do.  Even if they don't have homework, requiring that they spend some time reading or reviewing for 10-15 minutes will protect that time for when they do.

The following video outlines a few ways (geared for grade 3-5 parents) to navigate the homework 'battle' at home... http://goo.gl/IGTx9s

Interestingly, James K.A. Smith (a professor at Calvin College) writes about the

'Power of Habit and the Gift of Practices' in relation to our Christian walk in the book: "Imagining the Kingdom".  Practicing love in a deliberate way each day is an important part of our own discipleship.  God made us creatures of habit.  Through the year we will be looking for ways to exercise this habit of Christian Love... to plug in to God's power, and to live as children of light.  

Living as Children of Light

Welcome to 2015-16!! The new year is here!

Today, in our opening assembly, we learned how dark it can get. With all of the windows blocked, all the lights off, we were in complete darkness. Paul writes to the Ephesians that they were once darkness....(Ephesians 5:8) It was a bit unsettling for most of us, until we saw the light from a small personal workspace lamp. That lamp was enough light for all of us to see one another. That's the funny thing about darkness. You can't delete it. But the small light in the centre of the room was enough to scare the darkness into the far corners of the room.

Try as it might, though, that lamp was not able to light on it's own. It needed to plug in to a power source. If it chose to wander around, it would have become unplugged and not been able to shine. "If you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing." (John 15:5) Remaining connected and plugged in to God is important.... but what about shining that light?

We next saw what happened when we try to hoard that light and keep it to ourselves, and perhaps save it. Covering our light just dims the whole room and we plunge into darkness again. At Covenant, we want to shine in our own community, but we also want to look for ways to live as children of light in our town, our region, our province, country, and the world.

We'll be looking out for 'shining lights'. What has someone done to live as a child of light, plugged in to God? Share those together so that we can continue to encourage one another this year.

Our theme song for the year is "Children of Light" by Kristian Stanfill. You can listen/view the lyrics at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNZdzmslgbs 

2015-16, here we come!

August is ticking away, and a blissfully long summer is coming to an end.  The summer has not been a quiet one at the school with new windows, a few new floors, a great new playground, new paint, and the usual fury of cleaning, repairing, and 'spiffing up' in preparation for 2015-16.  We are in need a few volunteers to pull together the final items before September.  If you are able to help with any of these (see the list at the end of this letter), we'd appreciate the extra needed hands to complete our work!!

The school year's theme will be "Plugging in to God's Power".  Our potential can never be met by trying to apply our own power, but only by plugging in to God  as Power source can we become what He intends.  Our theme verses will be John 15:5.  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." and Ephesians 5:8 "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light."

We all have our own ways of shining God's light; each of our created as unique 'minds'.

• How can we plug in?  In what ways do each of us connect to God and renew our strength? How do we encourage one another in this?

• What happens when we unplug and try to run on our own power and 'steam'?

• When we plug in as a community of learners, parents, supporters, what light do we emit?  What does a community of light do?  Are their blinders between our light and the community?