Skip to main content

thanks giving

Lately I haven't really wanted to go to Sunday School.
It has been .... kind of off.
The study we are in hasn't been drawing out real conversation.
We mostly make jokes about something else. Watch the clock tick. And decide on where to eat afterwards.
I had even been wondering if this room at 11:00 o'clock was still the one for me.

But then there was this Sunday.
The food was lame store bought muffins ( I can say that b/c I brought them).
There were many empty seats.
The study was still a little stale.
But right before praise and concern we did something different.
In honor of Thanksgiving we went around the circle and were each asked to share one thing that we were thankful for.
Sounds so second grade right?
Wrong.

We went around and people spilled their hearts.
No one just said, " I'm thankful for my family".
Instead they praised their wife sitting beside them until they weren't the only ones choked up.
No one mentioned a new iphone ( not even me), but instead were so amazingly grateful for unexpected pregnancies, and blessings and healing and new relationships.
Something about looking into our hearts and sharing what was good.
What was God given.
What was grace.
Broke us with the amazing blessings that have been lavished upon us.

So many people were thankful for this class.
The very one that I was having thoughts about.
And by the end, I was blubbering like a baby.
And I was too.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

multiple choice

As I write I am procturing a test ( yes on a Saturday, and no I am not getting paid for it.) The room is silent. The only noises I hear are pencils scratching on papers and pages turning. If I listen closely enough I swear I can hear their brains turning. I have always been a good test-taker. I would still regularly brag about my SAT scores if it wre socially appropriate to do so(or an actual indicator of anything meaningful). There is something comforting about multiple choice. (well as long as you don't have the crappy all of the above or none of the above choices...just the classic A, B, C, D variety). There are parameters. Multiple choice means you have options. The right answer is right in front of you, and all you have to do is find it. Even if you don't actually know which one the right answer is there are usually clues, it can be narrowed down or worked backwards. Even a blind guess is likely to be right 25% of the time. These aren't bad odds. All you have t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Turning the question

My school has been sending me to some inquiry training. The “i” word has been thrown around since my education classes in college. It is one of those things that is really good as a concept but kind of hard to pull off in the classroom well. For lots of reasons. But the big one number is because teachers are reluctant to let go of the control. To let the kids loose with a concept and see where they end up. Let them discover, own it and share out all on their own. Without intervening. Then push them a little bit further and clear up any misconceptions that they are holding onto before they slip out your door. This is supposed to be the most meaningful way for a kid to learn. For them to discover rather than memorize. One of the other problems with inquiry and science is that kids have stopped learning how to ask questions. My son bombards me with whys all day long. Why are owls nocturnal? (which comes out a lot more like “not-turtles”) Why do I have to take a shower? Why ...
Post a Comment
Read more

what we mostly forget

Think back. Long and hard. Ten Years. Longer. At least twenty. Twenty five. Thirty. If you are old like me. And what do you remember? If you are like me a lot is fuzzy. Things that stand out aren’t exactly the kinds of things you find in photo albums. My earliest memory is being hit in the head with a pick axe by my cousin. I swear I heard my skull crack. But it couldn’t have been that bad in real life because I don’t even think we went to the hospital. Fast forward a bit. I remember my first grade teacher making me cry because I got my greater than and less than signs backwards. I remember being punched on the playground in second grade. If I sit here long enough and try more memories will trickle in. And some of them are good and happy and wonderful. But most of them aren't. I’m sure I played lots of games of chase and at popsicles and go plenty of smiley faces on my papers. I’m sure I made new friends and wowed them with my wit and strawberry shortcake dolls, but mostly I rememb...
15 comments
Read more