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Student of the Month
Nov 19, 2009 Categorized: Life with Kids •
The elementary school had their monthly meeting today where all the students gather in the school cafeteria and one class leads the whole meeting. It was a most special time and one I’m glad I didn’t miss. Students from one of the of the fourth grade classes shared responsibilities for welcoming the students, leading the pledges and anthems, and entertaining the crowd. I found the ceremony to be unexpectedly emotional for me. As I stood there watching a few hundred elementary children sing proudly of their country with such beautiful, innocent voices, visions of negative news media flashed through my mind--children singing praises for a faulty human being, rather than in the deeper meaning of what our country stands for, meaning that reaches farther than the limits of one man; children refusing to say the pledge of allegiance, just because gay people aren’t always given equality or because it’s not politically correct; children, brainwashed by unbelieving parents, who will never again regain the chance to have purity of heart born out of innocence and unadorned faith in God. And those images rotated through my mind like a slideshow of our nation’s proclaimed unbelief, while the harmonious music of Smalltown Elementary reached deep into my soul and reminded me that God is still in control of this world, and He is still in control of our government, and He is still in control of our children. No matter what the news portrays to us, the earnest convictions of God-fearing American citizens are alive and well and being intricately woven into many more youthful souls than we will ever hear about on the news. Our school may not preach the Word of God at rallies or pray aloud in the name of Jesus, but God’s Spirit is present and evident nonetheless, and He is working even still as the children themselves proclaim His truths to one another. As long as Christians are in this nation, the United States of America is still a Christian nation. When we teach our little ones to tell their friends about Jesus, and they come home telling us they DO IT...we can have hope that God’s Word will carry on. Praise God we don’t have to depend on the government to spread our faith; let’s raise a new generation that will spread it with us.
But I digress. Or do I? I was so proud of my little man. What an amazing faith and strength of heart he has! The Student of the Month award was well-deserved by him, and for way more than attendance, promptness, good grades and excellent behavior. Will has learned to trust God through the toughest of times--through pain, through impossible circumstances, and through the daily drudgery of unwanted yet necessary medical routines. He has a positive outlook, a humble heart, and an unwavering faith that God will give him the strength to face anything that comes his way. And every day that I drop him off and pick him up, and visit him in between, he smiles from ear to ear as if to say, “Life is good. I’ve got my family, I’ve got a great teacher, I’ve got God, and nothing else matters.” What a blessed child.