Any Kind of Lovely

So, I'm feeling a little discouraged recently and I honestly feel like posting something new for me to work on would be completely in vain.  I'm lucky if I'm any kind of lovely at school right now.


 I'm praying for you all as Christmas break draws nearer.  Remember so many of our kids don't receive the kind of love they deserve especially at this time of year--which is probably why some of them act the way they do.  :)  


We love because He first loved us. 

Dare 12: Love Offers Grace

Galations 2:20... "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  
 
We live in a balancing act between freedom and legalism.  It is easy to live in either of these extremes and extremely difficult to find the right place on the pendulum.  We either judge ourselves against others making us seem okay or we live a life that is spent entirely on ourselves and our "rights."  Romans 6:23 says the "wages of sin is death..." and all throughout the gospels we're told of how Jesus came for us to die for us.  Without Jesus, we have no rights.  We don't have the "right" to be treated better by people... we actually deserve to be treated worse, because we have treated God worse... BUT GOD (probably my favorite two words together) still offers us GRACE... over and over and over and over and over... you get the picture.  

And Galations 2:20 says that I no longer live, but Christ lives in me ... well, then I am called to be offering the same grace God has offered to me.  So, if i really understand God, I will ALWAYS respond out of grace, NO MATTER WHAT you've done to me, I will give you grace because I've done worse to God and he still gives me grace.  

Do I do that?  Big negative.  

I just can't seem to wrap my mind around what it looks like to offer this grace to my students?? How can I offer them grace over and over and over again and still expect them to respect me and the guidelines of the classroom and school?  
I understand that there is such a thing as tough love and that God loves that way too... It is just really hard for me to know what it looks like to apply all of this in a way that is pleasing to God and works in the classroom.  Not that I don't offer grace to my students ever... but let's be realistic in saying that I definitely don't offer them grace after X amount of offenses... 

So my dare for the week is to really focus on what it means to offer your students grace.  Pray that God would provide ways for you to offer them grace and that He would open your eyes to His grace in your own life.  


Praying you have a wonderful week and that God would bless your socks off! :) 

Dare 11: Love is Unconditional

The funny thing is... sometimes I copy and paste pretty much from my last round and sometimes I write new ones... running behind (two weeks and a day behind to be exact) and thought I'd copy one real quick... First line of the one I was copying was... 

"My apologies for the late post."  

Haha... must be the time of year.  AND the fact that my mom and I are starting a photography business and whenever I get on the computer that seems to be all I'm thinking about.  Anyway... here we go :) Better late than never. 

Dare 11: Love is Unconditional  

 

This week's dare is about unconditional love.  Reading over the chapter in the book, it felt as though it didn't apply much to loving our students.  It dives into the different types of love (greek-- agape, phileo, eros)... and quite honestly, I would really need to dig into the meaning of those words deeper for me to feel okay with applying it to our love for our students.  
But, part of what I am coming to realize is just how hard it is for me to fully accept that God's love for me is unconditional, which means that it is even harder for me to grasp what it looks like for me to love unconditionally.  
I'm just going to quote what the last part of the chapter says here...
"When your enjoyment of each other as best friends [referring to a spouse here]...is based on unwavering commitment, you will experience an intimacy that cannot be achieved any other way.  But you will struggle and fail to attain this kind of marriage unless you allow God to begin growing His love within you.  Love that "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:7) does not come from within.  It can only come from God.  The Scriptures say that "neither death, nor life, nor angles, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). This is God's kind of love.  And thankfully--by your choice--it can become your kind of love."

So, I think what I, personally, need to work on this week, is attempting to understand, beginning to comprehend just exactly what it means that God loves us unconditionally.   It is obviously the only way that I'm ever going to begin getting to love thing right.  I have to learn from the only one that does it perfectly... And I need to accept it for myself, so that I can truly give it to others.  It actually feels extremely overwhelming to even begin to think about it... 

So, i guess my dare for you this week is to go before God and ask Him to reveal His love to you in a way so clear that the only possible thing for you to do is to go share it with someone else... everyone else.  Its the only way we will ever learn to love our students the way God has called us to love them... 

And I'll be praying for you, too.  Praying that your hearts are open to receive love... praying that you would allow yourself to KNOW that you are worthy of His love... it may be really hard for some of us, but it will definitely be worth it...  



Must be a God thing, because I wrote all that a year ago... and just in the past week I've begun to struggle with the same thing again.  It is hard to accept that I will never fully understand God's love.  The perfectionist in me (however dwindling she may be) wants to get it. Right now.  And forever.  But that's just not the way it works.  I will forever be trying to comprehend the depth of God's love for me... 

Love you.

 

Dare 10: Love Makes Good Impressions

Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.  Greet one another with a holy kiss. 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13

Dare 10: Love Makes Good Impressions

It is interesting to me how often scripture speaks of how we should greet one another.  We teased my husband a while back when he told our LifeGroup that we should be greeting each other with a holy kiss.  We decided that a group hug might be more acceptable.  But the reality of it is, is that Paul has taken time out of many of his books to instruct us on how to greet each other!  He even takes time at the end of Romans to ask them to individually greet 27 of his friends and loved ones for him. 

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus speaks about loving your enemies.  He says, "And if you only greet your own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even Pagans do that?" (Matthew 5:47)   It is easy for us to address the people we like graciously, but Jesus says we also need to address our enemies with this kindness.  

Until I started working on this week's dare, I didn't realize how much attention was paid to how we should GREET each other! I think it's kind of neat actually.  

So, what does that mean for us as teachers?  I'd say a lot, don't you think?! In a day I have 130 possible first greetings with my students.  Not to mention my coworkers!  

"When someone communicates that they are glad to see you, your personal sense of self-worth increases.  You feel more important and valued.  That's because a good greeting sets the stage for positive and healthy interaction.  Like love, it puts wind in your sails." 

Harry Wong (the First Days of School guy) always talks about the importance of greeting your students before class with energy.  I think some of my better days with my students, especially when I've had a tough group of kids in the past, started with me standing outside the door and giving each student a high five or a big smile and "How are ya!?" as they walk into my classroom. 

"It doesn't have to be bold and dramatic every time, but adding warmth and enthusiasm gives you the chance to touch [you students'] heart in subtle, unspoken ways."  

This Week's Dare

This week is an easy dare!  Think of a few ways you would like to greet your students.  Remember, you probably greet your students several times a day, even if you have the same group of kids all day long.  Practice greeting them with a smile and enthusiasm.  Each one of them.  Remember... you might be the first person who has ever shown excitement to see any particular student.  You might be the first person who is truly working to love that student.  Do it well. 

<3

First John

I won't be posting a new dare this week.  I was out of town for the weekend and now I seem to be coming down with something.  But I do want to encourage you all to read through 1 John.  It is only five chapters and an easy read... and its all about LOVING PEOPLE.
  
Let the Word encourage you to love this week. 

<3

Dare 9: We LOVE because He first LOVED us

Here we are, on week 9 of the Love Dare and I was beginning to get that feeling again... that why am I doing this feeling.  And again God has told me very loud and clear that even if I'm only doing this for myself, this is what He has called me to do.  I have been so challenged with the calling to LOVE this past week that I am completely overwhelmed by it.  Where do I even begin? 


We are doing a series over 1 John at church right now.  And if you are familiar with 1 John at all, you know it is ALL about loving people.  And if you've ever studied it very much, you also know it can be hard to not become overwhelmed with feeling like you just aren't getting it right.  But that's where the sweetness of it all comes in: You aren't; but Christ did.   He is our advocate and BECAUSE He first loved us, the light is already shining.  We've already won.  LOVE has already won.  Amen!  


So, we talked about this at Lifegroup and we decided that to become good at anything, for anything to become second nature, you must practice first.  Love is NOT going to come easily; people are difficult to love.  So at first, practicing loving your students may seem forced, but after you've practiced for so long, you'll start finding that it comes a lot easier, and a bit more naturally.  

And it just so happens that I have a perfect example of a teacher loving her students this week.  My cousin, Lisa Baker, is a middle school teacher in Webb City. One of her students has just been diagnosed with cancer and Lisa decided to start a fundraiser to raise money for this students' traveling expenses for his medical care.   The catch? If the school raises $5000, she will shave her head.  They raised $4000 in a week.  She loves her students.  Obviously, we won't all have the opportunity to do something quite like Lisa, but would you if you were in that situation?  I've been struggling with that question all week...


The Story (If you'd like to read more about Lisa and her student)

And God continued to challenge me to love in a bit harder ways this morning.  During the opening worship at church today it was pretty apparent to me that something was "heavy" in the air, but I hadn't heard the news yet. Josh hinted at it when he when he was opening, but continued on with his sermon... on LOVE... and shared with us at the end of the service that three Bolivar students were killed in a car crash during the night last night.  One of them was my student when I student taught 4th grade in Bolivar 5 years ago.  
Life is fragile.  And unpredictable. 
I'll preface this with saying that we should never live a life of "What ifs" but I feel like this is an important question to ask...

What if I chose selfishly not to love a student (or anyone) and something happened? 

But instead of focusing on the answer to a what-if question, I just want to focus on the solution: 
LOVE.  
Love because He first loved us.  
Love because if we love God, then obedience will follow.  And what does obedience look like?  LOVE.  




Praying for the families who lost their daughters and the friends whose hearts are broken.  
Praying that we can all learn to love, for no other reason than He first loved us. 

Dare 8: Love is Not Jealous

"Jealousy is one of the strongest drives known to man.  It comes from the root word for zeal and means 'to burn with an intense fire.'  The Scripture pointedly says, 'Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, but who can stand before jealousy?' (Proverbs 27:4)"

To clear up a misconception of God and jealousy first it is important to recognize that there are two forms of jealousy: a legitimate jealousy and an illegitimate jealousy.  When scripture speaks of God being a jealous God it is referring to the legitimate jealousy which means that God is longing for us, desiring that we keep Him as our first love.  

Unfortunately, the jealousy that we struggle with is typically the illegitimate kind.  It is very clearly in opposition to love.  It is rooted in selfishness.  "This is to be jealous of someone, to be 'moved with envy.'"  

This week's dare will focus a little more on our relations with our coworkers.  While I'm sure it is possible to become jealous of our students, I imagine that jealousy of our coworkers is a far bigger issue.  Jealousy happens when someone else has something, or gets something, that you want.  Instead of feeling happy for them, you get angry. It's so important to harness that anger and let love win out.  If that doesn't happen, that jealousy can take a deep root in your heart.  The book of James says that envy leads to fighting, quarreling, and every evil thing (James 3:16, 4:1-2).      


"Because love is not selfish and puts others first, it refuses to let jealousy in.... It is time to let love, humility, and gratefulness destroy any jealousy that springs up in your heart."     

This Week's Dare

Determine to become your coworkers, and your students, biggest fans.  Reject any thoughts of jealousy.  Last week I asked that you make a list of the positive and negative things about some of your students.  This is where you will throw out the negative list--a way of showing you are ready to only look at the good in people.  Encourage your coworkers and students in their successes--rejoice with them!
What are some positive experiences you can celebrate in the life of your coworkers and students?   How can you encourage them toward future successes?  


Sidenote: Sometimes I look back on a week and wonder how well I have actually done with that week's particular dare.  It is easy to get caught up in the business of the day and forget to focus on one thing in particular.  What I'm trying to say is, don't get to caught up in the particulars.  The goal of this is to love our students better.  If you are striving to love your students (and coworkers, and family, etc.) then you're striving toward the right goal.  I hope God is showing you new ways to love and is placing people in your lives that show you His love.  

Dare 7: Love Believes the Best

...Love believes all things, hopes all things...1 Corinthians 13:7

Dare 7: Love Believes the Best 

It can be very easy to become discouraged by our students' "failures."  At points it may be hard to remember that inside our students is something good.  Maybe its the desire to learn, or maybe the ability to be kind, or the desire to be good. 
We can  create excuses for them or possibly give up on them. And in the process we add to what the Love Dare refers to as the "Depreciation Room."  It is full of weaknesses and failures of students.  It can house very hateful thoughts or feelings toward students and make a teacher ready to fire when that student "fails" again.  

Luckily, there is also an "Appreciation Room."  This is where we keep all of the successes of our students.  All things true and good about our students... ALL of our students, not just the ones who are easy to appreciate.  

The items in both rooms may be true for the student, but it is important to focus on the Appreciation Room.  Love lives in the Appreciation Room.  Love chooses to believe the best in people.  To give them the benefit of the doubt.  And when our students fail us, love chooses to move forward to agree to focus on the good.  

"It is time to let love lead your thoughts and your focus.  The only reason you should glance in the door of the Depreciation Room is to know how to pray for your [students].  And the only reason you should ever go in this room is to write "COVERED IN LOVE" in huge letters across the walls."  


It is SO important to develop the habit of throwing away your negative thoughts and focusing only on the positive ones.  I know that in the process of the day, this can feel very difficult.  I've experienced some very, very unlovable kids... and I know I definitely haven't always done my best in my attempts to love them.  But they still deserve love. 

This Week's Dare

For this week's dare, get two sheets of paper.  It would be great if you could do this dare for each of your students, but I realize that is not always possible.  So, if it isn't possible in your world, choose a few of the hardest to love students.  On the first sheet of paper, spend a few minutes writing out positive things about the student.  Then do the same with negative things on the second sheet.  Place both sheets in a secret (and secure!) place for another day.  There's a different purpose and plan for each.  At some point throughout the remainder of the week, pick one positive attribute and thank your students for having this characteristic.  



I hope you all are doing well. Praying for you and hoping your week goes smoothly.

Dare 6: Love is not Irritable

Better a patient person than a warrior; one with self control than one who takes a city.   ~ Proverbs 16:32

Dare 6: Love is not Irritable

We have reached the point in the school year where being irritable almost becomes acceptable to teachers.  We are almost through the first quarter, it has been a while since we've had a break, and quite frankly, we're getting a little worn down by our students.  I realized the other day that this has become acceptable when a coworker complained in passing about needing a break, and without thinking I responded in the same manner.  I didn't offer any positive encouragement; I didn't stop to think about my words.  When I walked away I was a little put-off with myself.  When had I become so irritable about being at work?

The Love Dare suggests that there are two main reasons that people become irritable: stress and selfishness.

Stress.  Almost the end of the quarter.  Projects and papers to grade.  Parent teacher conferences around the corner.  And I don't know about the rest of you, but our school is really stepping forward and making some much needed changes;  this is definitely a good thing, but it also leads to a good amount of stress.  Not to mention all the other stress life may be throwing your way.   But lets face it, when we are stressed, the easiest mood to revert to is irritable.  

Luckily, the Bible offers wisdom on helping us to avoid stress.  

- Let love guide our relationships.   Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.~ Colossians 3:12-14

- Pray about our anxieties. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7

- Delegate when you are overworked. This one is particularly hard for me to do at work, but it is so very important.  ( Exodus 18:17-23 )

All of these, as well as taking a "sabbath" every week.  Make sure you have a day when school is not part of your day.  I know I'm horrible about this, but I always feel better when I have one day of the weekend that is completely school-free.  

And the second part: selfishness.  "Being easily angered is an indicator that a hidden area of selfishness or insecurity is present where love is supposed to rule."  

This Week's Dare  

Choose to react to tough circumstances with your students in loving ways instead of becoming irritable.  Also, take some time to recognize where you should be adding in margin to your schedule. Planned time away from the stress of work can only be a good thing :) 

And hang in there!  When you catch yourself being irritable with a student, don't beat yourself up, just resolve that the next time you will handle the situation better.  

Love you. Have a great week! 

Kendrick, S, & Kendrick, A. (2008). The Love Dare. Nashville: B & H Publishing Group.  

Dare 5: Love is not Rude

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful... 

~1 Corinthians 13: 4-5

Dare 5: Love is not Rude

"Nothing irritates others as quickly as being rude. Rudeness is unnecessarily saying or doing things that are unpleasant for another person to be around.  To be rude is to act unbecoming, embarrassing, or irritating." 

I don't know about the rest of you, but I teach 7/8 graders.  Translate that to I am constantly surrounded by all that is rudeness.  It is SO easy for me to respond rudely.
When I get frustrated by a rude student and respond in a similar manner, I am only letting them know that somehow I believe that their behavior is acceptable, and possibly even expected.   I think this is one of my biggest failures at being a good role model for my students.  Not that I am horribly rude to them, but I know they see me react in snide ways. 
"There are two main reasons why people are rude: ignorance and selfishness."  
I sure hope neither of those qualities speak of who I am or who I am perceived to be.
Here are three questions (adapted) the book offers to test yourself:
- How do your students feel about the way you speak and act toward them?
- How does your behavior affect your students' sense of worth and self-esteem?
- Would your students say you are a blessing, or that you are condescending and embarrassing?

If you are thinking of other teachers who may act this way, please remember to check yourself as well.  Often times if we are quick to label others in their faults, we have a much bigger issue to be dealing with ourselves.  "Your likely suffering from a bad case of ignorance, with a secondary condition of selfishness."  

The book also offers some guidelines to practicing etiquette:
-Guard the Golden Rule.  Treat your students the way you want to be treated (or the way you would like them to treat other students)
- No double standards.  Be as considerate to one student as you are to another.

This Week's Dare

This dare will be in two parts.  First, find a time throughout the week to hold a class meeting and discuss some qualities they really like in teachers.  Obviously, you will have to be careful with this discussion and offer guidelines for what is appropriate to say, etc.  Next, take a look at your own teaching.  Evaluate if there is anything you do as a teacher that could be irritating or embarrassing to your students.
What do you notice about your behavior?  What do you plan to do to improve these areas?


I'm praying that this is beneficial to you.  I know that so often I start my day or week remembering these things, then as the day progresses and things happen I am quick to forget.  I also know that I'm not the best model of love, but no one is.  God is love and that's all we need.  Praying that the fullness of His love would overwhelm us so much that it spills out through our lives.  

Kendrick, S, & Kendrick, A. (2008). The Love Dare. Nashville: B & H Publishing Group.   

Dare 4: Love is Thoughtful

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself.  Each of you should look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others.  - Philippians 2:3-4

Dare 4: Love is Thoughtful 

I don't know the depth of a lot of my students' stories, and I probably never will.  But I do know that many of them do not go home to loving and thoughtful homes.  (I also know that many of them do--I don't want to discredit those parents that are obviously doing their best for their children.)  

Sometimes it is overwhelming to think that perhaps no one has ever prayed for some of these students.  No one has ever taken time out of their day to do something thoughtful for them.  It is written all over their faces when they come to you with story after story, longing for you to listen.  Or when they sit so reserved in your classroom and never open up to anyone.  Everyone longs to be loved... and everyone longs to be thought of...

It is not a coincidence that being thoughtful comes after not being selfish.  If you are stuck in your selfish patterns throughout the day, you can pretty much bet you aren't doing anything thoughtful for your students either. Thoughtfulness is selflessness put into action.  

This Week's Dare

The idea this week... along with being patient, kind, and selfless... is to really show your students that you care for them.  What does that look like?  Maybe it is standing at your door when they come into your classroom and saying hello.  Maybe its taking a few minutes out of class to ask a student how they are doing--with no other agenda than to really know how they are doing.  Maybe it is evaluating what you could do for your students (as a whole or individually) that would make their lives a little bit easier.   Or maybe you will take a more private route this week and decide to pray for your students individually--truly interceding on their behalf--and asking the Lord to reveal Himself to them and bless them.  


Please share ways you have discovered to practice being thoughtful with your students.  I hope you all have a wonderful week.  Praying for you and your kiddos.  

Kendrick, S, & Kendrick, A. (2008). The Love Dare. Nashville: B & H Publishing Group.  

Side note:  I hope that if you are truly participating in the love dare each week, that you are not only acting these out in your classrooms.  While I am focusing only on our students and how we can love them--they are not (or probably should not be) the most important things in our lives.  Your relationship with the Lord and your family should always come first.  Your thoughts should never be so consumed with loving your students that you forget to love your spouse or your own kids.  I know that sounds like a "duh!" comment, but I also know that it is incredibly easy to be consumed by work and all the baggage it can load on you.  So if you have a rough day at school practicing patience, that doesn't mean its okay to come home and throw it all to the wayside because it is hard.  We aren't just called to love our students... we are called to love.  In general.  Everyone.  All the time.  

Every part of our lives is a reflection of the Gospel inside us... what does your reflection look like?  

Dare 3: Love is not Selfish

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.  Romans 12: 10 

Dare 3: Love is not Selfish 

"We live in a world that is enamored with 'self.'. . . If there were ever a word that basically means the opposite of love, it is selfishness."  

We are selfish from birth--it is part of our sin nature.  Think about it, no one ever teaches a child to be selfish--but they are very selfish beings.  Most sinful actions can be traced back to selfishness.  "It is a trait we hate in other people, but justify in ourselves."  

This is a hard idea to wrap my mind around when relating to our students.  I should not be selfish around my students, but I am the teacher... and what I say, goes :).   Here's where it got me though..."The bottom line is you either make decisions out of love for others or love for yourself."  


Here's the questions the book says to ask yourself...(modified of course)
- Do I truly want what's best for my students?
- Do I want them to feel loved by me?  
- Do they believe I have their best interest in mind?  
- Do they see me as looking out for myself first?  

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves."  --Philippians 2:3 

This Week's Dare

It is hard to care for something that you are not investing in.  Look for ways you can invest in your kids.  Maybe it is listening to a kid's stories when you'd rather be grading... buying a kid a new binder because his is broken... surprising your kids with a bonus of some sort... Or simply letting them know you're thinking of them....
And of course, continue working on patience and kindness. 

Please share ways you are practicing patience, kindness, and selflessness with your kiddos... I would love to know how everyone else is living it out in their classrooms.   
Have a wonderful LONG weekend and a blessed week! 

<3 
 

Kendrick, S, & Kendrick, A. (2008). The Love Dare. Nashville: B & H Publishing Group.  

Dare 2: Love is Kind

"She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue"

Proverbs 31:26

Dare 2: Love is Kind 

Practicing patience helps to avoid negative situations, whereas practicing kindness helps creates positive situations. 

"Love makes you kind.  And kindness makes you likable. When you're kind, people want to be around you.  They see you as being good to them and good for them."  

"Do not let kindness and truth leave you;  bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  So you will find favor and repute in the eyes of God and man."   Proverbs 3:3-4

So, what does it mean to practice kindness on our kiddos?  The book has broken the term into four separate ideas.  

1.  Gentleness.  First let's think about what gentleness is not... It is not harsh, bitter, argumentative, careless, impatient, irritable, insensitive, and maybe this is important for some to hear: gentleness is not weakness.  In fact, The Full Life Study Bible defines gentleness as restraint coupled with strength and courage.  I think gentleness with our students simply means being careful how we treat them (even the roughest piece of sandpaper in your class!).  When we have to discipline our students, gentleness means making the discipline as easy to hear as possible.  I really liked my friends idea of having an "Australia"
 corner in her classroom--where she sends a student to chill out and have a second to think about what's happening before any discipline occurs.  

2.  Helpfulness. The idea of being helpful is to meet the needs of the moment. What needs do your student need met?  Let's think beyond Bloom here for a moment... and maybe go a little more simple.  Many of my students need help getting organized, an extra bit of attention, or a little eye contact to help them remember to do the right thing.  Many times their greater needs are completely out of our hands.  Let's not forget that we can still be helpful in the small instances. 

3.  Willingness.   Willingness to listen, to offer our time, to offer our insight, and to help them in any way possible. 

4.  Initiative. Taking initiative means we greet our kids first, smile fist, serve first and forgive first.  

Jesus gave us a perfect picture of kindness in the story of the Good Samaritan.  A Jewish man is attacked by robbers and left for dead on the side of the road.  Two religious leaders pass by and do not stop--too good for such a lowly man.  But another man, a Samaritan--who culturally does not get along with Jews (understatement)--stops and takes care of all of the man's needs.  This act of kindness brought two enemies together. 

 

"Love determines to show thoughtful actions, even when there is no reward.  You will never learn to love until you learn to demonstrate kindness."  

This Week's Dare

In addition to saying nothing negative (patience) to your students this week,  do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness.  

Try to reach as many students as possible.  And remember, as with patience, kindness and gentleness are fruits of the Spirit.  If you've already got the Spirit inside of you, tap into the gifts He's given.  :) 

Praying you have a blessed week.  

Kendrick, S, & Kendrick, A. (2008). The Love Dare. Nashville: B & H Publishing Group.  

Dare 1: Love is Patient

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13

Dare 1: Love is Patient

 

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient bearing with one another in love.  

Ephesians 4:2

Everyone, whether they like to admit it or not, has a deep rooted desire for love.  Love changes things.  It always does what is best for others and empowers us to face our greatest problems.  Love makes relationships meaningful.  Love makes life meaningful. 

So many of our students have not been offered love—and perhaps some of you haven’t either.  A very wise man told me once that when you are longing for something, the easiest way to receive that something is to give it.  So, our goal for this year is to give love.   I know God will show up in BIG ways when we follow His commandment to love.  Our students will be blessed… and we will be blessed. 

“Love is built on two pillars that best define what it is.  Those pillars are patience and kindness.   All other characteristics of love are extensions of these two attributes.  And that’s where your dare will begin.  With patience.” 

Part of me wants to run away screaming at the thought of practicing PATIENCE with some of my students!  I hear myself saying, “It’s just not possible!  This kid is so __________.”  I’ve adopted the term “sandpaper kids” to refer to those not-so-easy-to-love students.  They are smoothing out my imperfections through a very uncomfortable process. 

Loving those students will inspire you to be a more patient teacher.  You will begin to respond to negative situations in positive ways.  It will provide a calm in the midst of the storm our classrooms can sometimes become.  Perhaps you will even find ways to extend mercy (not giving something that they deserve; a disposition to be kind and forgiving)  to your students. 

Reacting out of anger will never make a situation better.  You may win in the moment, but what have you done to that child?  Anger typically will stir up new issues, while patience will put a stop to them.  “It is a choice to control your emotions rather than allowing your emotions to control you, and shows discretion instead of returning evil for evil.” 

“Patience stands in the doorway where anger is clawing to burst in, but waits to see the whole picture before passing judgment.”   How often do we truly get the opportunity to see the whole picture of our students’ lives?  How often do you take their lives outside of school into perspective before reacting to their poor behavior?  Please don’t mistake me here; I believe whole-heartedly that students need to be disciplined.  Disciplined, not punished.  Perhaps this is where we need to take a step out of our busy days and attempt to understand where our students are coming from. 

Patience will not come naturally.  Often times when you are praying for patience, that is when your patience is most tested.  For those of you who have accepted Christ, remember that we already have His patience inside us.  Patience is a fruit of the Spirit—tap into it! 

This Week’s Dare

 

The way we treat our students and the things we say may very well be a reflection of the condition of our heart.  For the next week, resolve to practice patience with your students.  The best way to pay attention to this is to check what we say to them... and when and if you feel your impatience building, take a step back and breathe, then respond.  What’s the rule we always teach them?  If you can’t say anything nice… don’t say anything at all!


A couple things to keep in mind...
- It may be a while before you see changes in your students—so start the change with yourself
- Your coworkers need love (and patience!), too!

Praying that God will bless us all with patience.   
<3


Kendrick, S, & Kendrick, A. (2008). The Love Dare. Nashville: B & H Publishing Group.

A Fresh Start

Well, I kind of made it last year! For those of you that journeyed with me, thank you, and I'm sorry I didn't finish.  Life gets busy and it sort of became an out of sight, out of mind kind of thing...unfortunately.  

I honestly wasn't really planning on starting it back up again.  Satan has a way of taking a good thing and threading lies through it.  I'll be completely honest with you, not many people commented on my posts and I sort of felt like I was doing it for nothing.  Should have realized Satan's schemes quicker.  I've been very surprised by the number of people who have mentioned the blog recently and asked me if I was planning on doing it again.  I think that's God's way of telling me I should reconsider.  

So, here I am.  School is beginning and there's no better time to pick this back up.  I'll revamp the dares I redid last year and begin working on the new dares.  But I will need your help!  The Love Dare book offers all kinds of great dares for married couples, but let's be honest, that kind of love does not always apply to our students.  So, I'll need you to help me out with dares that you think are applicable to teachers... what do you think we need to work on the most?  

A Quick Refresher...
This is taken from my very first post on this blog, just about a year ago.  I went back to it to remind myself what my initial goal was...

You quickly realize when you are teacher that the one thing above everything else that your students need is love. Many students practically cry out for it on a daily basis. And they all have different reasons. I've found that many of my students do not receive the love they deserve at home--which I'm sure is the case for many teachers these days. Even the ones who do receive adequate love desire to feel accepted and a sense of belonging. What better way to care for our students than to love them?....
I'm going to go along with the "Love Dare" book and tweak it to fit the needs of a teacher attempting to love those sometimes-not-so-lovable students (as well as those that are just easy to love!). My hope is to have fellow teachers post about how they are carrying out each week's dare with their students  {being careful not to breach confidentiality!} I love to learn from my fellow teachers! ...
This is my warning that although I may be an English teacher, I will not always compose my sentences correctly, and I will probably get caught up in what I'm saying and forget to add punctuation and do a lot of "dot dot dot" and use some sort of improper English...forgive me.

The goal is simply to love.

Will you join me?
 

First dare will be up this weekend.  Hope the year is starting off well!! God Bless!  

<3 

Dare 19: Speaking Truth in Love

I hope you all had a blessed week last week and have had some time to relax this weekend.  I know this is the time of year where things start to pile up quickly.  Grades are due, plans need to be made, testing is coming up quickly.  It is very easy to be distracted by all these "things" and to forget what our purpose truly is.  

I felt very blessed this morning when our pastor asked the teachers in the room to stand up and asked everyone else around to pray over us.  I can honestly say that my heart feels lighter than normal approaching a new week :)  Especially a week like this one... conferences most of the day Thursday and my yearbook is due on Friday... It's going to be a busy one :)  

So with conferences approaching my thought for the week is wondering how I can love all those parents I will be coming in contact with on Thursday.  I want to communicate clearly to them, but I don't want to intimidate them or bash their children.  I want to tell them the truth in love and hopefully offer assistance where its needed. 
Part of being able to do that is preparing for the conferences beforehand...  The way my school does it is we all sit in the gym and parents are able to walk up to our tables and speak to us.  During the busier parts of the day, lines will form, but in the past it is typically a steady stream of parents throughout the day.  This means I don't know what parents to actually expect to be meeting with-- and when you have 70 kids it is hard to feel adequately prepared for all of them.  So everyday this week I will be meeting with my kids one and one... talking about their grades, taking notes, etc. in order to feel more prepared for Thursday, and in the process being able to invest a little bit of my time specifically into each student this week.  

I also want to offer love to the parents simply because THEY need love just as much as our students do.  I'm praying for discernment for all of us as we speak with parents (whether its in conferences, over the phone or via email).  Remember, their lives are tough too.
Praying you can speak the truth in love. 
<3

Dare 18: Tough Love

Do not withhold discipline from a child... Proverbs 23:13

This past week I was pegged as "the mean teacher" because I caught several of my students plagiarizing and they (as promised) received zeroes on a very large assignment.  I was very, very upset, angry, disappointed, etc. with my students, and I'm sure I came across more strict than I typically do, but I wanted them to understand the consequences for their actions and that it was in no way okay.  

Even though I can honestly say (and only after a few years of teaching under my belt) that I truly don't mind if I have a student that doesn't like me-- I mean, its bound to happen.  But it still really bothered me that I was the "mean teacher" when I had not been the one in the wrong.  Of course, that's typically how it goes, especially when you teach middle schoolers :)

I really had to convince myself that I wasn't in the wrong.  That their actions required a consequence.  And the consequence was known and out on the table before they decided to follow through with their behavior.  

It is good to discipline your students.  They need it.  Of course, there are lines that I'm not going to attempt to draw here between discipline and punishment that need to be taken into consideration.  But my heart's desire in disciplining my students is not for them to be in trouble, its for them to learn from their mistakes and move forward.  

So, this week I want you to think about how you give tough love.  Is it really tough love or are you just frustrated and angry?  I'm sure many of you do this already, but consider explaining the process of tough love to your kiddos... tell them the why behind the consequence.  Sometimes it is easy to get wrapped up in the business of the day and I know students receive consequences in my classroom without me ever taking them aside and explaining my reasoning behind it.  


Have a blessed week.  Love you. <3

Dare 17: Love is Satisfied with God

I almost decided not to post this week.  This past week has been incredibly draining emotionally as we said goodbye to dear friend who lived an incredibly beautiful life and went to see his Maker what seems like much too soon for those of us still here.  I will admit that this past week my mind was not focused on school or my students like it normally is and my heart was going out to my dear friends and seemed to stay there and ache a while.  For the past two hours I've been sitting on my couch looking over students' writing that for the most part is far less than perfect and wondering quietly what it is I'm doing here.  I'm frustrated that my kids still don't seem to know where to put a period or a capital letter and are in 7th grade.  I'm out of ways to teach them how to put a comma in a compound sentence.  I don't understand why putting quotations around what someone says out loud is so hard.  I'm frustrated.  I'm worn out.  

I decided I needed a break from looking at their work and should go ahead and write the dare.  (Even though, honestly, my heart doesn't feel like loving them right now.  Hopefully you don't think I'm awful for saying that--just trying to be real here.)  The next dare on the list is "Love is Satisfied with God."  The theme verse comes from Isaiah 58:11, "The Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire."  (Ironically the printed text put a comma in that sentence- which would make it an incorrectly punctuated compound sentence, haha.)   
The book says, "He alone can satisify, even when all else fails you."  
Thank you, God. 
I feel like my students are failing me and my frustration with them makes me feel like I'm failing them.  But GOD SATISFIES.  "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).  
Does that mean that I don't feel frustrated with my kids anymore?  No. But it does mean that thirty minutes ago I was feeling like a complete failure as a teacher and then God lead me here. 
"In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled... I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:12-13).  
There are needs in your life that only God can fully satisfy.  "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).  
The needs of love, peace, and adequacy are real.  Thank you, Jesus that you fill those needs.  
When we are seeking Him first, loving Him first, making our relationship with Him top priority, He promises to supply us with what we really need--which, actually, is all it really takes to satisfy us. 

God is your everyday supply.  Of everything you need. 

My heart still hurts.  And I'm still frustrated.  BUT God is good.  He's good all the time.  And He is my adequacy and He will lead me.  


And ironically, a dear teacher friend just sent me a text of encouragement about my students.  


I hope you are filled to the brim with HIS love and HIS peace. Let him satisfy your needs.  

<3

Dare 16: Love is Jesus Christ

I hope most of you were able to enjoy a three day weekend!  I know I've definitely soaked up today :) 
This week's dare is another one that I will take mostly from the book, as it says what needs to be said perfectly, and I would only add my wordiness.  

Dare 16: Love is Jesus Christ

While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodlyy. --Romans 5:6 

"The previous [week] and dare lead to no other conclusion than this.  Thankfully, it's a conclusion you can live with--today, tomorrow, and forever.  
Jesus has come "to seek and to save"  you (Luke 19:10).  Everything you've failed at and haven't been able to do, every minute you've wasted trying to fix things your own way--all of it can me forgiven and made right by putting your life into the hands of the One who first gave it to you.  
Maybe you've never done this.  Then today is your day.  "Now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Maybe you did it years ago, but you've wandered far from your spiritual roots.  Then "repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).  Even if you have already made Christ your way of life and have never stopped walking in fellowship with Him, the follow Scriptures will be a grateful reminder of all He's done for you.  
The Bible says we are sinful from birth, from the moment we arrive.  "Behold, i was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5).  "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment" (Isaiah 64:6).  It's not as though God sends innocent people to hell.  
We deserve it.  We simply can't be good enough to live with a pure and holy God.
However, "God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him"  (1 John 4:9).  "/although He existed in the form of God, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant...He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:6-8).  "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His woulds you were healed"  (1 Peter 2:24).  By His death, He made invalid the very idea that you are unloved and devalued.  If you ever feel that way, you're not looking at the cross.  He proved His love for you there. 
Love like this cannot be fully understood. "One will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare to even die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:7-8).  
Nor can love like this be earned. "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"  (Romans 6:23).  "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of words, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).  
But it must be received. "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation" (Romans 10:9-10). 
And when you have received this new life and love as your own, you are free to love in ways you've never been capable before. 
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down hie life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers... This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us" (1 John 3:16, 23 niv).  "The one who does not love, does not know God, for God is love" (1John 4:8).  
He was willing to love you even though you didn't deserve it, even when you didn't love back.  He was able to see all your flaws and imperfections and still choose to love you.  His love made the greatest sacrifice to meet your greatest need.  As a result, you are able (by His grace) to walk in the fullness and blessing of His love.  Now and Forever.  
This means you now share this same live with your [students].  You can love even when you're not loved in return.  You can see all their flaws and imperfections and still choose to love.  And though you can't meet their needs the way God can, you can become His instrument to meet the needs of your [students].  As a result, they can walk in the fullness and blessing of your love.  "  


I love you all and pray that you know the fullness and blessings of God's love.  Now, go show that same love to your students.  Have a blessed week. 


<3

Dare 15: Love is Impossible

It almost feels strange to be thinking about school right now.  Over the past 10 school days, 8 of them have been snow days!! Hence why there was no dare last week... I had no school last week, and it really wasn't on my mind!
So this week's dare is "Love is Impossible"  ... I am definitely skipping around in the book now... because I'm pretty sure the "Love Leads to Intimacy" one doesn't apply here. 
"Let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God."  1 John 4:7 

"The Love Dare starts with a secret.  And though it's been an unspoken element throughout each day, you've likely grown more and more suspicious of it all the time.  Now that you're this far, it's a secret you're discovering for yourself, even if you haven't exactly know how to put it into words.  
The secret is this:  you cannot manufacture unconditional love (or agape love) out of your own heart.  It's impossible.  It's beyond your capabilities.  It's beyond ALL our capabilities. 
You may have demonstrated kindness and unselfishness in some form, and you may have learned to be more thoughtful and considerate.  But sincerely loving someone [or in our case, a bunch of someones] unselfishly and unconditionally is another matter altogether.  
So how can you do it?  Like it or not, agape love isn't something you can do.  It's something only God can do.  But because of his great love for you--and His love for your [students]--He chooses to express His love through you. 
Still you may not believe that.  You may be convinced that with enough hard work and commitment, you can muster up unconditional, long-term, sacrificial love from your own heart.  You want to believe it's in you. 
But how many times has your love failed to keep you from lying, ...overreacting, and thinking evil of... [ your students ] ...? 
It's this failure that exposes mankind's sinful condition.  We've all fallen short of God's commands (Romans 3:23).  We've all demonstrated selfishness, hatred, and pride.  And unless something is done to cleanse us of these ungodly attributes, we will stand before God guilty as charged (Romans 6:23).  That's why if you're not right with God, you can't truly love your [students] (or anyone else for that matter) because He is the Source of that love.  
you can't give what you don't have.  You can't call up inner reserves and resources that aren't there to be summoned.  In the same way that you can't give away a million dollars if you don't have it to start with, you cannot pay out love in greater measure than you own.  you can try, but it will fail.  
So the hard news its this:  love that is able to withstand every pressure is out of your reach, as long as you're only looking within yourself to find it.  You need someone who can give you that kind of love.  
'Love is from God' (1John 4:7).  And only those who have allowed Him into their heart through faith in His Son, Jesus--only those who have received the Spirit of Christ through beliefe in His death and resurrection--are able to tap into love's real power.  'Apart from me,' Jesus said, 'you can do nothing' 9John 15:5) 
But He also said, 'If you abide in Me, and MY words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you' (John 15:7).  god has promised through Christ to dwell in your heart through faith so that you can 'know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the likeness of God' (Ephesians 3:19). 
When you surrender yourself to Christ, His ppower can work through you.  Even at your very best, you are not able to live up to God's standards.  But He 'is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us' (Ephesians 3:20) (my favorite verse!) That's how you love [your spouse, your students, people...]
So this unseettling secret--as defeating as it may feel--has a happy ending for those who will stop resisting and will receive the love God has for them.  This means that the love He has 'poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us' (Romans 5:5) is always available, everytime we choose to submit to it.
You simply won't be able to do it without Him.  
Perhaps you've never given your heart to Christ, but you sense Him drawing you today.  You may be realizing for the first time that you, too, have broken God's commands, and that yuor guilt will keep you from knowing Him.  But Scripture says that if you repent by turning from your sin and turning to God, He is willing to forgive you because of the sacrifice His Son made on the cross.  He is pursuing you, not to enslave you, but to free you, so you can receive His love and forgiveness.  Then you can share it with the one(s) you've been called most specifically to love.  
...
The truth is, you can't live without Him and you can't love without Him.  But there is no telling what He could do in your [life] if you put your trust in Him. "

So, all of that is taken mostly word for word from The Love Dare (Kenndrick).  It wasn't my intention to just copy what they said, but it was all very real and phrased much more precise than I could try to make it on here.  If you have any questions about any of it, please let me know. And your dare for the week will be to really examine where you are at with the Lord and to call upon His strength and His love to give you the strength to love your kiddos. 


Have a blessed week. 

Dare 14: Love Intercedes

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.  3 John 2

Dare 14: Love Intercedes 

"You cannot change your [students].  As much as you may want to, you cannot play God and reach into their heart and mold them into what you want them to be....    
Insanity has been described as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  But isn't that what happens when you try to change your [students]?  It's frustration at the highest level.  At some point you have to accept that it's not something you can do.  But here's something you can do.  You can become a 'wise farmer.'  A farmer cannot make a seed grow into a fruitful crop.  He cannot argue, manipulate, or demand it to bear fruit.  But he can plant the seed into fertile soil, give it water and nutrients, protect it from weeds, and then turn it over to God.  Millions of farmers have made a livelihood from this process over the centuries.  They know that not every seed sprouts.  But most will grow when planted in proper soil and given what they need."  

Just like not all the seeds will sprout, not every student will be changed by your attempts to love.  But the reason for going through the love dare with your students is not so each of them will change.  The reason you are going through the love dare is to stretch yourself to love as God has called us to love.  Even if you don't see a change in one student this year, hopefully you'll see a change in your heart.  And chances are, if you are truly trying to carry out each dare, your students will be affected.  You may not see the change in them now, and you may never know just how much your love for them touched their hearts... but it will happen.  "But you won't be able to do this alone.  You will need something that is more powerful than anything else you have.  And that is effective prayer."  
And boy, do our kids need prayers.  Not a day goes by that my heartstrings aren't pulled by a glimpse of a students' home life.  This won't surprise you, but I tend to be a forgetful person, and unfortunately, often times I simply forget to utter up a prayer for them.   It is my prayer that God hears my deep concerns for each of them as prayer.  
It is my desire, and I know it is God's desire, to pray more fervently for my students.  I truly believe it is one of the most loving things we can do for them.  


So this week, take time to pray for your students' hearts.  Pray that God would work in their lives and that you might be given opportunities to speak to their hearts.  


love you all.  praying for you as well. 

woa.

No one deemed it necessary to tell me that the weekend came and went and now suddenly it is Tuesday and apparently I had no idea.  

YIKES! 

Grace it is, my friends, grace it is.  

God bless. Have a good week.  Don't give up on me :) 

And again...

I don't know about the rest of you, but I only had two days with students this past week due to snow days... I know its going to take me a while to be conscious of practicing grace, so here we go again...
Praying for all of you. 

Dare 13: Love Offers Grace

I realize that offering grace and letting them start fresh is very similar, but I've really been challenged lately with what it looks like to offer our students grace.  

We are in the middle of a series at church over Galations 2:20.... "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  

Today we discussed the balancing act that is freedom and legalism.  It is easy to live in either of these extremes and extremely difficult to find the right place on the pendulum.  We either judge ourselves against others making us seem okay or we live a life that is spent entirely on ourselves and our "rights."  Romans 6:23 says the "wages of sin is death..." and all throughout the gospels we're told of how Jesus came for us to die for us.  Without Jesus, we have no rights.  We don't have the "right" to be treated better by people... we actually deserve to be treated worse, because we have treated God worse... BUT GOD (probably my favorite two words together) still offers us GRACE... over and over and over and over and over... you get the picture.  

And Galations 2:20 says that I no longer live, but Christ lives in me ... well, then I am called to be offering the same grace God has offered to me.  So, if i really understand God, I will ALWAYS respond out of grace, NO MATTER WHAT you've done to me, I will give you grace because I've done worse to God and he still gives me grace.  

Do I do that?  Big negative.  Was I guilty of not doing that 5 seconds after I left church this morning?  Unfortunately, yes.  

And I just can't seem to wrap my mind around what it looks like to offer this grace to my students?? How can I offer them grace over and over and over again and still expect them to respect me and the guidelines of the classroom and school?  
I understand that there is such a thing as tough love and that God loves that way too... It is just really hard for me to know what it looks like to apply all of this in a way that is pleasing to God and works in the classroom.  Not that I don't offer grace to my students ever... but let's be realistic in saying that I definitely don't offer them grace after X amount of offenses... 

So my dare for the week is to really focus on what it means to offer your students grace.  Pray that God would provide ways for you to offer them grace and that He would open your eyes to His grace in your own life.  

I know that there's a good amount of you that read this, I get the stats on here.  Most of you never comment, which is fine, but I'm asking that you would share with us all how you have learned to offer grace in your classroom or in your daily lives... 

Praying you have a wonderful week and that God would bless your socks off! :) 
 

Dare 12: Love Lets Them Start Fresh

And after a long reprieve... here we are again!   Hopefully I didn't lose you along the way.  Things got a little crazy around Thanksgiving with my husband and I moving to a new home and then being without internet for what seemed like forever! 

I know many of you started back with kiddos today... our district is lucky enough to have a work day the first day back after break, so I was able to make copies and set my lesson plans in place today.  I'm so very thankful to be able to ease back into the groove of things. Breaks always seem to spoil me a little too much :) 

I think I'm going to have to start getting a little creative with our dares.  The further you get into the book, the "deeper" the kind of love it talks about.  

So, my dare to you this week is to let your kids start fresh.  Part of the work day today included going over all my kid's grades from last semester and double checking them before I imported them for grade cards.  Browsing through some of their grades, I found myself getting frustrated all over again at their lack of effort.  It made me dread tomorrow.  And then, I sat through a meeting where we discussed our repeat offenders for lunch detentions.  (Let me tell you, I was really looking forward to tomorrow after that one.) 
I could feel my negativity welling up and realized that I needed to cut it out!  So I told myself that I was going to make tomorrow be a good day just by having a good attitude.  I'm going to let my students start fresh in my book. Those repeat offenders deserve grace just as much as the others.  So, my goal will be practicing grace and helping my students feel like they can start fresh and move forward.  I'm excited!  I just know that some of those kids are going to jump at the chance of a clean slate.