THANK YOU—GOD—FOR YOU!
There is a photo that is housed within the screenshots in my saved images.
THANK YOU
“Let the peace of Christ, to which you were indeed called in one body, rule in your hearts; and be thankful.
(Colossians 3: 15-17 NASB)
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
Every day of class, normally a devotional message is shared at the end of class; however, last night, God led me in a different direction, and today, my students’ words resonate within me.
Walk back with me to last night, not to the busyness of the day, nor to the beauty found within the sunshine-filled Tuesday, but to the night class of English Composition. See adult-learners sitting in a brightly-lit classroom. If you had been present last week, then you would have observed how they sat at tables separated by rows of open space, the tradition-look of any university classroom. Nevertheless, last night, this class sat together, in community, facing one another, seated in a conversational type setting, and what’s more, their instructor sat with them.
THANK YOU
These were the words the Scrabble tiles spelled within the screenshot image that I saw this morning for the first time, and when I did, my Tuesday night class came immediately into my mind.
Again, step back into that Tuesday-night class, see students who had worked a full day at their places of employment, who chose to attend university class after work, after a day’s work, rather than going home to their family, rather than sitting with their families around the table to share the dinner meal.
Yes, I am so “thankful” for my students, and always, those words come from my mouth at the end of class as I “pray them out” and release them at the end of our time shared.
Last night I offered a prayer, but instead of praying after a devotional reading I had brought to class to share, my prayer came after a class of conversation, after a class of talking about their writing, after a class of discussing how to properly document, after a class of laughter, after a class of shared struggles, after a class of exposed errors within their essays, and after a time of students sharing their answers to this statement:
“Tonight I want us to go “old-school” for a moment, and since we are sitting here in conversation, let us go around and each share one thing we are most thankful for.”
THANKFUL for—
- For someone encouraging me to go back to college instead of spending my life working in a factory.
- For my children, who without them, I have no reason to live after the scare of cancer.
- For my grandma and grandpa, who are my parents.
- For my family.
- For financial aid.
- For—on & on & on, the students shared out their thankfulness one-by-one until the circle of voices reached me, their instructor.
“Ms. New, what are you most thankful for?” one student asked.
Just minutes before, I sat listening throughout the entire class meeting, hearing them voice their writing questions and concerns, seeing them help one another improve their drafts, sensing how they were a class of community-learners more than individual-learners as they sat “around the table” (so to speak). I so enjoyed sitting there beside them, realizing how our time together was coming to an end, listening to their voices reign with truth as they voiced their answers: I am most thankful for ____________________________________________.
Truly, God, there are NOT EVER enough blanks in the world to fill as we express all the things we are thankful for—most.
Last night, I felt their eyes on me as I contemplated what God now placed upon my heart to say.
‘THANK YOU—GOD—for boldness,’ I whispered in my soul as I voiced aloud to these beautiful students what I was most thankful for this season of Thanksgiving.
“I am most thankful that I know Jesus as my Savior. I am most thankful how through Jesus I am a child of God.
Let me pray you out, and then we will go home.”
THANK YOU—GOD—FOR YOU!
“And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings,
(Colossians 2: 13-14 NASB)
Having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
THANK YOU—GOD—FOR JESUS CHRIST!
THANK YOU—GOD—FOR YOUR HOLY SPIRIT!
THANK YOU—GOD—FOR YOU!