Thursday, April 26, 2007

A Memory Worth Learning From ...

I remembered something sweet from my childhood last night at Steak n' Shake with friends. When I was really pressed on why I could maintain a sense of childlike faith about me all the time, my mind went back to February 1995. That was the spring (because February is SPRING in Texas) that my church choir did a musical called Uniquely Yours. Among other things, one of the parts was describing the gifts that the Spirit gives to people. My part was about the gift of FAITH. I still remember my lines.

One day, in rehearsal Claudia Carroll, my choir director said, "Rachel, you are reading this because that is your gift." Now, I don't know if it really was before she spoke that blessing over me or not. I don't remember any particular time in my life before that when I felt that the gift of FAITH was really mine. But in that moment I agreed with her. In my head I thought, "yes, I'd like to be one of those people who seem to still have the faith that we are born with my whole life." I guess God smiled on that 14 year old child in that moment and said, "you got it kid."

All of this to say that today I try to speak blessings like that over children AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. I take that authority that Jesus gives me (because of the Spirit) and bless kids. I point out when they hear from God, when they say something really WISE, when they have FAITH ... and you should too. They just might agree with you.

2 comments:

Jenn said...

wow. that is very cool. must try to do this with my students.
p.s. not sure if you get your blog posts sent to you over email - but give me a call if you can. random question about plans for tonight. I left my # on Andrew's vm.

Beth Skillman said...

Great thoughts from someone who is a blessing to all the kids she knows!