Tag: light in the darkness

Called to Love: A Season of Hope

Ryan@educationandfaith.com

“You little jerk.”

“Are you kidding me right now?”

“Wow, you’re really good at ticking me off!” (Fists clenching)

“What in the world were you thinking!”

Embarrassingly, I’ve thought each of these things in response to my students. In the last week. Some just yesterday.

It’s obvious I can have an unloving heart in my classroom. When these thoughts raid my mind, I’ve stolen a child’s hope. While a teacher’s ONE job is to provide hope, I’ve managed to steal it.

A Step Further

What happens when these thoughts become a mainstay, creating a calloused and hard heart. What if I acted on any one of these thoughts? Simply let a phrase slip from my lips. Let an aggressive sense flow through my hands. It’s frightening how easily that could happen. That quick.

We’re a fragile, weak creation. For some reason the Creator placed His treasures in jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7). We each are easily broken but contain extraordinary potential!

 

Called to Love, Providing Hope

I’m so thankful for the advent season. Dwelling on these historic truths softens my heart and puts me back together; This allows me to do my ONE teaching job well.

Coincidently the first theme of  advent is hope. I’m reminded how important hope is for a person’s well-being. My hope is found in a quiet presence filled with love and grace, brought forth from a silent and holy night.

To perform my job well I must be a loving and gracious presence. I can’t do this completely without my divine help. Might I even love my students recklessly! Loving without expecting positive returns. When we expect certain returns in this world we’re setting ourselves up for hurt.

As we dwell on the truths of the season may the treasures inside us make us beautiful jars of clay! Merry Christmas!

Reckless Love by Cory Asbury:

O Holy Night by Hillsong Worship

Instilling Lasting Truths in Our Children: Write to your kids!

Ryan@educationandfaith.com

One of my biggest fears is that my son might place his value in the flawed messages of this world. I can’t stop or even filter everything the world tells my son. That is scary!

It’s even scarier if I sheltered him from the ways of the world and we avoided any encounter with them. This leaving my child to navigate an unknown world with no experience.

This is probably why parents write their children notes in their lunchboxes. I remember stealthily checking my lunchbox in middle school to make sure I could intercept any embarrassing messages my parents may have hid inside. I’d always skip away to my locker or the bathroom to read that loving note!

More parents should write to their children! (Thanks Mom and Dad)

How Do We Protect Our Children?

My little family is trying to instill lasting truths in ourselves. This foundation allows us to interact and sift through this world without becoming its victim.

What We’re Trying

My family has two main times to connect with each other and prepare for the world.

  1. Breakfast: My wife does a brief devotional with our son and I leave a little note or poem for them a couple days a week.
    1. I’m usually off to work before they awake so leaving them with a message of encouragement or love is a way for me to still speak into their days.
  2. After school homework and dinnertime: We’re lucky to all be home from work and school pretty early so a quick debrief with everyone is possible.
    1. If we’re really overachieving we’ll connect the morning devotional or note with the experiences we had throughout our day.

 

Here are a couple of the notes I’ve left for my family:

If there’s an interest, feel free to use these in your home. I can email these files for easy download and/or printing capabilities.

 

I usually get ideas and inspiration from the needs our family is currently encountering or ideas that spring from my personal devotions.

Speak into your children’s lives based on who they are. We are a pretty emotional, and empathetic family. These notes have been a fun way for us to combat the misguiding messages and emotions that our son receives in the world.

I love the idea of focusing on a theme each week attached to a biblical truth.

I plan to share more of these here, I may create another page on my website to put these up for download as I come up with more.

 

How does your family encourage and support one another?

Another parenting post you might check out:

“Great Job” and Other Phrases Crippling Our Kids

May you find peace in the process

 

We’re More Ignorant than Ever and Here’s Why

Ryan@educationandfaith.com

We have access to more information than ever, yet we remain uninformed.

“The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.”  

-Nathaniel Branden

 

Reality. We have the exhausting task of dredging through the sludge of information.

It’s also why we’re able to connect so well to Lewis Carroll’s “rabbit hole” in Alice in Wonderland. In today’s culture we, like Alice, free fall down this deep complex hole of information overload.

This is why the industry of minimalism exists. This is why minimalism is so attractive yet so difficult to achieve.

Too Much Information = Ignorance

How?

Somehow as we have acquired access to unlimited information, we have also acquired greater ignorance. This is counterintuitive. How can we now have the ability to know everything instantly, but it still doesn’t dispel ignorance?

Responsiveness is the key. I recently read that there are three requirements to being responsive. They are caring, validation, and understanding. I think I could summarize those three into one act. Listening. If you’re truly listening, you are caring about what you hear. You are validating or confirming the information. Through your validation you come to a place of understanding. So why must it be so hard to listen?

Like minimalism, a whole industry for listening can be found in the self-help sector.

 

Awareness

Both minimalism and active listening preach awareness. I love that in biblical times the people would name places and landmarks based on the experience they had there. What an exclamation of awareness! In Genesis 34 Jacob labels the place El Bethel because it was where God revealed himself to him. Even their given names were changed based on their experiences. After wrestling with God, don’t you think Jacob’s eyes were opened when his name was changed to Israel, because he struggled with God and humans and he overcame (Genesis 32). His identity was built on that awareness.

We can take it a step further to see God even identified with numerous different names depending on the characteristics he was exhibiting. I’m jealous of the clarity these biblical people portrayed. This clarity requires a humble awareness in recognizing the circumstances one is facing and their response to that experience.

When I’m consumed with every piece from every informational feed I grow tired. When I’m tired in this world I lose my awareness. When I lose my awareness I grow self-serving and greedy. After falling down this rabbit-hole I find myself ignorant and unresponsive.

 

Name Your Experience

Reflect on your current circumstance, what would you name it? Name it, accept it, and trust God to lead you through it. In what area have you lost awareness? It’s a constant struggle and we need guidance.

We’re a kinder, more thoughtful people when we take time to reflect on our experiences.

May we be more self-aware, relationally-aware, and culturally-aware.

 

Fear: One Emotion Every Child Brings to School

Ryan@educationandfaith.com

This post is a follow up to “The Three Emotions Every Student Brings to School”

Which Fear is for You?

There are two forces we can choose to fear.

The first choice is the disappointments and devastations of the sinful world. The nature of our flesh magnifies every uncertainty, the not knowing breeds fear.

The second option we can choose to fear is the almighty goodness and 

power of God. 1 Samuel 12:24 says, “Only fear the LORD and

 serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.”

The tricky thing about fear is that we have to constantly choose between these two forces. Fear is a continued tactic of the enemy. It simply locates one’s weaknesses an

d insecurities and latches on with the squeeze of a vice. Even now, as I consider the debilitating affect fear presses on us, I experience an honest worry for the future path our students face.

Helping Our Children Overcome Fear

1. Help the student know their worth.

What are the truths we show the students about themselves? Do they hear that they are valued and worthy of love?

This takes constant effort in removing judgement and inserting grace. I know there are days I’ve failed my students in this. I’ve acted out of frustration and irritation causing the children to view themselves as a nuisance rather than a person of great worth.

In his book The Heroic Path John Sowers wrote, “The enemy knows if he can separate us from our true name, our identity, and our place, we will derail. Often times his work is finished after that, we destroy ourselves.” We must help our students identify their identity and hold t

hem accountable to that. Are they being the best version of themselves?

2. Help the student know they’re not alone.

Are we fostering a community that supports and comforts every member? Not one should feel isolated, not one should journey alone. We were created to journey life together. The community should bring joy to the experience.

 

Fear can either be found in the horror of this world or one can fear the almighty power of the creator of this world. The latter being a much healthier option.

Lead Them From Darkness: But Where’s the Light?

Ryan@educationandfaith.com
I attended a seminar recently where the instructor shared the etymology of the word “educator”.
  • “duc” being the Greek meaning for -leader.
  • “e” or “ex”, translates to meaning -out of, -from.

 

So as christians intend to be light for the world, educators also hope to lead others from  darkness. For christians, I think the definition of “light” and “dark” is made pretty clear. Being in the light is being near God. It is not the life situation or circumstance that determines the brightness or dimness, it is purely the state of one’s relationship with God.

 

  36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[a]
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
    -Romans 8:36-39

 

          Though in education the definitions of light and dark have become muddled. Is “light” simply knowledge? For the sake of humanity, I hope not! In this case I find it easier to examine the darkness in order to discover its counterpart.
I do believe educators are meant to lead people out of ignorance. For me this clearly defines darkness. Not ignorant of subject areas (history, math, science, etc.) but ignorant of life and the nature of people. A complete lack in understanding one’s self, a deformed concept of community and relationships.
Therefore leading students from darkness is exploring the intricacies of life. The warmth of the light pours over us as we discover the value of all things around us. Seeking understanding of human systems while finding the flaws of the human heart.   
I suppose in faith and in education, the idea of light and dark is quite similar. The enemy’s tactics remain constant: isolate and disconnect the object. I pray no student finds darkness in my classroom.
Be Light: Desire to know each student and be genuinely persistent.   
Peace in seeking!