lesson

Little Giants, Going Down!

After an hour of sorting through the overstuffed iPhoto folders clogging my computer, I accomplished some necessary deletion and some happy recollection of the wonderful places and people I’ve seen in the past year. And I will admit it freely— if I found a picture where my actual weight and/or age were undeniably obvious, I hit delete. If you were standing next to me and looked fabulous, I’m very sorry.

As the year draws to a close, it’s good to spend some time taking inward inventory, reflecting on goals attained and accomplishments that should be celebrated. Today as I perused a year’s worth of pictures, what took shape for me was a list of things you probably wouldn’t have guessed I’ve battled this year. Since I am a musician, a teacher, and a writer, you might assume I do these things with complete ease. Not so. I call them Little Giants, and I am naming them because I want to acknowledge that God has continued his work in my life this year, helping me win some small but significant victories over various forms of fear.

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CrossWise Friendships. Part 2 of “A Simple Feast of Friendship”

CrossWise Friendships Mandy Thomas

I would like to introduce you to my friend Mandy Gervasi Thomas—photographer, nurse, poet, wife, and mom. I asked Mandy to collaborate with me on Chapter 9 of CrossWise Living: Navigating Transition. I pick up the chapter where I left off last time and Mandy’s voice will finish it.  


The Story Continues

A few years later, the phone rings and I hear the voice of Mandy, one of my visitors that pleasant evening. Married now for two years, she’s back in San Diego with her husband David for a short visit and wants to drop in for a few minutes that morning before they leave town.

Mandy and David arrive a few hours later with their new baby Judah, who has both a full diaper and an empty tummy. Things always seem to be going crosswise when there’s a new baby, and they’re running late. I suspect they might be hungry, as it’s way past lunchtime, and I’m pleased that they accept my invitation to join Jeff and me for a quick bite before they have to be on the road again. Fortunately, I’ve developed a new habit now that I’m cooking for just two—whenever I make soup, I double the batch and freeze it.

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Stitching a Work of Art

Stitching a Work of Art

When I say I’ve been a quilter, I mean I’ve enjoyed the social aspects of meeting together with other women in the church basement, learning how to turn old scraps into something warm and useful. During the years when I was home with small children, I enthusiastically churned out a succession of amateurish patchwork quilts­ for friends and relatives.  I loved doing it—I just never got good at it.

My husband and I still cuddle up under a now-ragged patchwork quilt I made nearly 20 years ago. It was never flawless enough to be mounted and displayed, but its blunt and unmatched points never prevented it from keeping us warm and cozy. They say Amish women would deliberately sew a mistake into their quilts as a reminder that God alone is perfect. I never had to be that intentional about it.

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Walking with the Teacher #3 Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated Instruction, or individualized instruction, is defined in The Act of Teaching as, “Instruction that attempts to tailor teaching and learning to a learner’s unique strengths and needs”. Another source adds, “The intent of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student’s growth and individual success by meeting each student where he or she is, and assisting in the learning process . My ongoing thesis in this series is that Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived and that we who desire to spend our lives educating and inspiring young people would do well to study his life and to learn by watching and then emulating Him. I am finding that an examination of what research determines to be the best practices in education somehow always results in praise to God, who of course, as the designer of our brains, knew these things all along.

I found myself in need of some individualized instruction in the hours before dawn one day last week. After a prolonged period of wrestling with the bedcovers and my own anxious thoughts, I could finally stand it no longer and got up in the dark. Painfully aware that I had not had sufficient rest to get me through all the tasks that faced me and too sleepy to start my day with the structure of my Bible study workbook, I just wrapped myself in a quilt, went out into the backyard, and watched the sunrise. Finally, I grew still. In that chilly solitude filled with bird song and the brilliant colors of the morning, it was easy to know that he was God. That I was not. And that was precisely where and when Jesus, my Teacher came and gently directed me to a passage of Scripture that would “maximize ( my) growth and individual success by meeting ( me) where I ( was ) and assist me in the learning process.”

A passage came to mind from Luke 12:22 and I turned there. I have wrestled with worry many times and so it was not an unfamiliar passage. Words like “Which of you by worrying can add one hour to his life?”, or “… you of little faith…” followed by that wonderful encouragement to “seek first the Kingdom” hit me right in the heart. Now that I was finally still and listening, what we educators might term “ engaged” , my Teacher was able to administer some more individualized instruction, pointing out to me that when I get worried I also become a wee bit argumentative, borderline bossy, and even downright grouchy. He was able to deliver this news to me in such a way that it truly became good news because it came with a clear-cut solution. Repent. Trust. Obey. There really is no other way.

Because Jesus loves me and knows me individually, he gave me a new song to sing. I suppose he must have read the research on multiple intelligences, because this was just the ticket for me. Any teacher knows that a very effective mnemonic device is to put concepts to music to help auditory learners memorize content. Jesus knew that the song would get stuck in my head and would remind me to take the thoughts that had been troubling me captive. Suffice it to say that my anxiety was quelled, my spirit soothed and my joy restored.

These “Be-still- and-know-that-He-is-God” moments are essential in the life of a busy teacher. When the traffic in our own heads becomes deafening, it drowns out our ability to hear the needs of the students God has entrusted to us. As we follow Jesus, our Master Teacher, we come to know his attention to our individual needs and it is from that position of strength that we are able provide ” instruction that attempts to tailor teaching and learning to a learner’s unique strengths and needs.” Once again, we realize the God is able to equip us fully for the work to which he has called us.

As you walk with the Teacher and sit with him in the silence, may your joy be full and your cup overflowing!