Love, Jan

rejoice
Posted by Jan on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 7:46am
"Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord." Habakkuk 3:17-18 As I think about my New Year's Resolution, where is my gratefulness? Am I grateful for the stuff the Lord has provided or can I be grateful for the lack of stuff? I am grateful for just having the Lord in my life. He is the peaceful eye of the storm when stuff is blowing in circles.
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Battle
Posted by Jan on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 7:37am
My New Year's Resolution of being grateful isn't going well. I've been upset with school testing where I question my ability to teach. I'd like to blame student failure on the variables of student home life, student brainpower, student effort, or the different testing expectations, but the administration is saying "no excuses". They indicate that student failure belongs to the teacher's lack of teaching. Are they right? I have past years of testing results that prove I do my job, but this year's poker hand of students are not producing. Whose fault is it? Mine? With a hurtful voice ringing and anger thoughts marching, my head and my heart are at war. Then Wednesday's daily readings came from First Samuel 17 where David says "For the battle is the LORD'S". I've repeated this many times since then. Yes, this battle is the Lord's. I will continue to use past effective teaching practices and try new suggested instructional procedures, but this Goliath of learning belongs to the Lord. He is the power to drill the stones of remembering into student brains. I am grateful for my class. I enjoy being with ten year olds. (As a PS, only part of my class is failing. But with the "No Child Left Behind" mandate, NO child can fail. I need 100% passing. When an unattainable expectation is given, stress causes high blood pressure. I wonder how many heart attack/stroke casualties are created in this education war.)
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Points on a Line
Posted by Jan on Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 7:56am
Wednesday's Math lesson included studying points on a line. We talked about the different names each point could have. Student examples were: the number two could be called dos, or the Roman numeral II, one plus 1/2 and 1/2, the mixed number one and 2/2, etc. My class got very creative. Then during Thursday's pondering, I wondered if God had points on a line, what would they be called and where would I be on the line. The left might be those who have no recognition of God at all. Next might be those who recognize a power greater than themselves, but are ignorant of the Bible. Then the next couple of points would be people who have had experiences of God. The first would acknowledge and thank God, but the second might be like the Israelites at the bottom of Mount Sinai. They would complain and disobey God's plan. Since I've experienced God in my life, I would hope to acknowledge and thank, but there have been times when I questioned, complained and disobeyed. These points would not be stationary, but slide. As I pondered points on a life-line, I thought of Jesus' parable of the sower and prayed that the Stonecroft seeds would fall on good soil. "Once there was a man who went out to sow grain. As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn't deep. But when the sun came up, it burned the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up. Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants. But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants bore grain; some had one hundred grains, others sixty, and others thirty." Matthew 13:3-8
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How are you?
Posted by Jan on Sunday, January 1, 2012 at 7:33am
My answer is usually "fine". Where did that habitual answer come from? Tabitha, in her new wig, while taking chemo for an aggressive enough leukemia requiring a stem cell transplant, responded to "How are you?" with "blessed". Isn't that a thought provoking answer? How could she be blessed with her body's messed up immune system? (Hint: Tabitha is a strong believer in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.) Bill, in his tall job of pastoring two churches, answered to a friend, "pretty near perfect". Since Bill is a Christian, and Jesus has saved him from the rejection of God, grace is evident in his life and perfection is closer today than yesterday. Isn't that a great realization? The shepherds near Bethlehem during Jesus' birth answered, "frightened", but the people who listened to their story answered, "amazed". Am I still amazed at the shepherd's story? ("All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds." Luke 2:18) What verb/adverb could be today's answer to how are you?
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New Year Resolution
Posted by Jan on Saturday, December 31, 2011 at 7:13am
What is your New Year Resolution? That will be Monday's writing prompt question. Fourth grade topics are usually: getting homework finished, reaching an AR reading goal, getting along with siblings, or keeping a bedroom clean, which are all very good goals for 10 year olds. My resolution for this year is to list things for which I'm grateful. This morning as I discarded the mandarin orange Christmas box, I'm grateful for oranges. After reading Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I'm mindful of the fresh foods I can eat simply because of petroleum-based transportation. I'm grateful for bananas and oranges, which we cannot grow in Eastern Oregon and wouldn't be good canned or frozen. The first three verses of Psalm 96 also gives a great New Year Resolution idea. "Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing to the Lord, all the world! Sing to the Lord, and praise him! Proclaim every day the good news that he has saved us. Proclaim his glory to the nations, his mighty deeds to all peoples." HE HAS SAVED US yes indeed! why should we worry and fret? why should we be in gloom and dread? he has control of death and I will see Hilary again. this truly is news to shout about!!! "Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go." God's words to Joshua (Joshua 1:9)
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