CELEBRATE
April 09, 2021
Prayer: Please help us to overflow with love and joy for others because we have felt and known Your great love. Thank You that we can feel Your joy in our hearts. Amen.
Scripture: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Ps. 139:14
One school day I walked into a fourth grade classroom to check on someone and found the class eating Oreos. They all seemed happy and chattered incessantly. I asked the teacher what the occasion was, thinking perhaps the class had earned a treat for some achievement. Not at all. One of the boys in the class was celebrating a birthday—no paper plates, no fancy napkins or balloons, just Oreos, straight from the bag. He beamed. I was familiar with the family’s history, and knew that the mother could not have even afforded that treat for her son’s class. Yet, this first year teacher had considered this boy, and all the others, special and sprung for the cookies himself.
God specially designed each child in your classroom. Take the time to thank Him for their unique qualities, and look for opportunities to show them how special they are. Consider what counts with them, what makes them feel accepted and a part of the group. It may be simpler than you had thought. Think about ways to honor each child on birthdays or when they have made an achievement. One class that I taught applauded each child who wrote correctly on the board. Sometimes those with the lowest self-image need your creativity on their behalf, by providing opportunities for them to shine before their classmates. Remember that when you honor each child because of his or her uniqueness, you honor his or her Creator as well.
Copyright Shirley Wilson. Email [email protected]
Phew! I was in tears reading that. It is the kind of thing I have always tried to do for my learners. But found it hard because it somewhat “back fired”… instead of such treats being birthday treats only (on my own limited budget) it became an “entitlement expectation”… Not only on birthdays… but every time I am out there teaching–two to three times a week. And the adults joined in in expectations and requests… I am an independent, voluntary tutor and travel 110 kms just to spend the day teaching or tutoring preschoolers up through Gr 12 this year. I will be ending this work (of seven years) mid-December as I will be halfway to 67 by then…(And have increasing major orthopaedic challenges.) However, I hope to help struggling learners closer to home from 2022, DV. The tears weren’t so much about the expectations placed on me, but the reminder in my recent growing disappointments out there since lockdown–just how valuable and unique each child and adult is… and for Him to top up my “love store”…. I still give my utmost as a teacher, and of myself… but “things” are of greater priority to them. May I be found faithful to the end. “Such as I have I give”…but I want it to be fully with HIS heart, Love, Grace and Mercy.. Thank you.