I finally took the time to debrief with my staff about my time away in North America fundraising for our school. I shared how loved they are. I shared how many people are praying for them as well as supporting them financially. I tried to encourage them in their growth and progress. I wanted most to inspire them to give themselves in a similar way to another lesser group.
I shared the stories of the kids who carried photos in their pockets of our students - those who gave up birthday and Christmas presents and instead donated the money so that our students could have lunch and gifts at Christmas. I told them about the librarian who with the sale of her quilt raised the money for our math curriculum and cried while presenting a small replica to me in front of an audience of more than 600. I reminded them how the connections grew from one heart to another and now so many are bound as one strong force. I told them of how much of this was happening in public schools where it is prohibited to talk of religion or the love and hope we have in Christ. Yet in spite of these challenges they are lights in their community and committed to supporting our teachers and students here.
How can we be light to our students, families, community, country, island? Rich and poor are such relative terms. I shared with them how my kids complain of being poor and they could hardly believe it because we have so much compared to them. I told them how I explain it to my kids. There will always be someone with more and there will always be someone with less. We are responsible for using what God has put in our hands and being thankful for it regardless of how big or small we think it is.
Our school is poor compared to most, but rich compared to many. Who can we serve?
In my heart of hearts I have a dream that I still do not share out loud, but a very small piece showed itself today.
As I was sharing, one of the teachers interrupted me, “I’ve been thinking about taking our kids to see the Haitian school that Hecto has started.” Really?…I thought to myself. Then a few others said they too would like to go. I suggested a trip…then gushed about how that would shake things up - helping the Haitians. While they truly are the least of these on this island they are not without controversy. That’s the way Jesus did it, busting all the cultural rules that supported racism and sexism. He was a true activist and his weapon of choice was Love. I want to do that. That’s the kind of light I want us to be.
But I noticed two staff members eyeing me in a strange way. Then another teacher called them out by name. “It’s like she was with us this morning in the devotional. She even uses the same words.” The first nervous member agreed and the second seemed to now have her jaw ajar. “I guess that’s what you call confirmation. It’s funny how God works.”
You know that feeling when the spirit enters the room and everyone feels it? I love that!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 6:55 am and is filed under T.E.A.R.S. School, General, Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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