Many people believe. They believe in themselves. They believe in the system. They believe in their spouse. They believe in their children. They believe in God. They believe in Jesus. They believe in the stars or a pastor or the trees which grow majestically around them.
Jesus, in John 14:11 tells us to, "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves".
The above passage startled my thinking this morning, probably because I had never connected "believe because of the works themselves". I'm assuming I had read the above sometime before, but this time it stuck out to me. Jesus wasn't just calling us to belief. He was also leaving us with evidence in the works themselves FOR belief. I know belief in Jesus is simply that...by believing we are saved. But as I read the Scriptures this morning, I gleaned there is more Jesus gives us then what some call Blind Belief. There are the works. There are the ones recorded in the Bible. There are the stories of ancient times which point us to Christ. There are the many which currently fill our library. Stories of faith, God's victory, God's provision. God's work..and they help us believe. They give us the evidence to believe.
Making what seems a 180 degree move, let's turn the tables to education. (which is where my mind mostly lately wonders). What do we believe about our schools? What do we believe about our kids? What do we believe about ourselves when it comes to learning? And what works do we believe are shouting loudest? From all that I have read-which is few compared to the books out there-education is a wonderuful idea. I believe no one will disagree. Education allows oneself to see a larger picure of the world, ourself, each other. But what do the the works themselves show us? Are we listening well to wisdom when it comes to education? Are we listening to our children-the very ones we are "educating"? Are we as adults still being educated? Are we trying to teach our children one way, all together, with very little time to let them put down roots in the soil the Lord has given each one of them? Are we unconsciously going from one subject to another without much thought as to the bigger picture? Are our students the same plants, needing the same nutrients, same amount of sunlight, each being watered just the right portion and they, we believe, will yield beautiful flowers all at the same time? Right? Humbly, wrong and the works show us this. Will we couragously believe what the works are telling us?
I believe we are ignoring the works to blindly believe in something which does not produce the desired outcome we so much want for our children. We want a system, a pattern to follow, a nice easy step by step algorthium to produce a nice easy answer. But we know it doesn't work like that and its scary to say that outloud.
Teaching is a challening profession. But teaching is challenging for more then keeping a group of seven year olds all on task for 8 hours a day. Its challenging because 20 children come into a room, all as different plants with different flowers to bloom at different times with different instructions for those flowers to bloom! Ahhhhhh, the craziest thing, teachers have to keep learning themselves how to inspire, challenge, grow, tend, shape each little life. What a calling!
There are different ways to do this. We could ignore the differences. We could put the kids through a program which reflects the way a part makes it way through a factory. We could put them into a room and tell them to grow themselves. We could line up each child with a stake for growing up and with support and then let them try it out. We could spend the time and energy to get to know each child and tend them along the way, pruning and trimming, pushing and nurturing their individual growth patterns. Each takes time. Each is hard. Each will yield something.
But what do we believe and what do previous works tell us. What is wisdom in this arena? Doing what is hardest isn't always the best. Doing what is easiest isn't always the best. Doing what is wisest is always the best. What is true, right and LASTING, I believe is the calling of the parent-walking in wisdom is the best.
I put before you, the wisest answer is to spend our energy getting to know our children. Spending the huge amounts of time to check the soil of our children's roots to see what they need and to have the courage to give it to them when they need it. This is no picnic. This is work. This is hard. This is the joy of the parent to their child. Education is not about teaching our child a set of standards at the right ages. Education first is about the parent. Humbly stepping back to observe the works and strive to believe the Lord what HE has made them exactly how HE wanted to, for their good and HIS glory.
Observe the works of your children, for they teach you great and mighty things about our God. And in the process you might also learn about your child. Believe in God and HIS works, so that we can believe in our child and the story God is writing for each of them.
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