School Bells – Current Affairs – Grade 8 –Week 19
Intentional spiritual living
This is the last week I will meet with the students until the new year. The semester with these young seekers has, like all good things, gone really fast. The continue to help me open to new possibilities in all areas of thoughts. The assignment for this week was for us all to discuss with our respective families whether it is important to set daily spiritual goals and, if so, what they might be. Of course, part of their assignment to me was to bring holiday cookies. I have stuck with the chocolate chip cookies because I already know that the ingredients are safe for everyone in the class.
It is time for class. They are entering now.
Me: Good morning class.
Class: Good morning Mr. Jim. Cookies!
Me: Yes. Here are the cookies. Paul and Will, please hand them out.
They do so and it only takes a moment for the to inhale the cookies.
Class: Thanks Mr. Jim
Me: I am eager to hear what you and your families decided about the importance of spiritual goals and what such goals might be.
Abdul: In our family daily prayer is very important, but I never think about specific spiritual goals. Everyone in the family said it was easy to just say the prayers without thinking about what they meant for today. We know we want to serve Allah but as soon as I say my prayers, I might tell my little sister to quit bothering me. Mom said that sometimes dad wants to visit and she says she is too busy. Dad said that he does not always offer to help with evening house chores. I guess spiritual in our family is more than saying prayers.
Me: Thanks Abdul. I think that paying more attention to each other is very spiritual.
Susie: In our family we celebrate Christmas and sometimes we go to church with our grandparents but we do not think of ourselves as spiritual. We noticed that we always have time for saying what we do not like or what we don’t have but we do not say what we are grateful for or how lucky we are to have such a nice home and a heathy family. We agreed that we would write down one thing every day for which we are grateful. We also decided we have to share that with every family member in person or by text message.
Me: So far it sounds as if spiritual has to do with how we are treating each other.
Tom: In our family we go to church a lot and Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. Jesus talked about love a lot. We decided that we want to read part of this section of the New Testament every night at dinner and then talk about how we are doing with living it:
1 Corinthians 13:4-8New International Version (NIV)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
Last night we talked about what it means when it says love is patient.
Me: That is great Tom. Thanks for sharing. Many religions have a similar teaching.
Amena: For our family, if Allah is not present or if our love of Allah is not present, then nothing is any good. My parents say that we must make our bed with love. We must do the dishes with love. Love also means we must be grateful. We could agree with what Tom read.
Ann: In our family we have a lot. All of us go once a month to serve food at Catholic Charities and then stay to visit with many of the homeless people. My mom says that we are no different than the homeless. She says that we must keep making sure that we are humble. She worries that we will think we are better because we have so much.
Paul: If one has an Uncle Jim and he lives next store, spiritual means being intentional about what we do and being intentional about being who we say we want to be.
Me: Thanks Paul. You make it sound as if we can be perfect at living this way.
Paul: Oh no! We are not perfect at doing this but you tell us if we keep asking the questions we will get better at living this way.
Me: That is correct Paul. Thanks for clarifying that.
Will: In our family, my grandmother says, “Child, you think God done took a vacation and does not know that you are not doing your chores or are being mean to your sister or whatever?” When we were talking about our homework Grandma said that “Nothing is worth nothing if we are not putting God first.” We know that Martin Luther King, Jr. was just a man but he tried very hard to live his beliefs. We have a large photograph of him in the kitchen and every morning Grandma loves on all of us and then she looks at the picture of Jesus and says, “Martin we just keep takin one more step.”
Me: That is wonderful. Perhaps we could invite your grandmother to come talk about spirituality sometime.
Will: I don’t know if she would do that Mr. Jim.
Me: Perhaps I will have to ask her if it is okay with you Will.
Will: Okay Mr. Jim
John: Our family has started using the family meeting to ask how we are doing with our purpose as a family. We then talk more about why we are a family.
Me: That is great. I am glad that you are continuing to have family meetings.
I am again so impressed with all of you and your families. I think all of you are very loving, spiritual people. I hope that all of you have a very happy and safe holiday whatever you are celebrating.
When we come back from break perhaps we could share our New Year’s wishes or resolutions.
Susie and Ann, would you hand out the cookies and the assignment?
Happy New Year everyone.
Class: Happy New Year Mr. Jim.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Written December 21, 2016
Intentional spiritual living
This is the last week I will meet with the students until the new year. The semester with these young seekers has, like all good things, gone really fast. The continue to help me open to new possibilities in all areas of thoughts. The assignment for this week was for us all to discuss with our respective families whether it is important to set daily spiritual goals and, if so, what they might be. Of course, part of their assignment to me was to bring holiday cookies. I have stuck with the chocolate chip cookies because I already know that the ingredients are safe for everyone in the class.
It is time for class. They are entering now.
Me: Good morning class.
Class: Good morning Mr. Jim. Cookies!
Me: Yes. Here are the cookies. Paul and Will, please hand them out.
They do so and it only takes a moment for the to inhale the cookies.
Class: Thanks Mr. Jim
Me: I am eager to hear what you and your families decided about the importance of spiritual goals and what such goals might be.
Abdul: In our family daily prayer is very important, but I never think about specific spiritual goals. Everyone in the family said it was easy to just say the prayers without thinking about what they meant for today. We know we want to serve Allah but as soon as I say my prayers, I might tell my little sister to quit bothering me. Mom said that sometimes dad wants to visit and she says she is too busy. Dad said that he does not always offer to help with evening house chores. I guess spiritual in our family is more than saying prayers.
Me: Thanks Abdul. I think that paying more attention to each other is very spiritual.
Susie: In our family we celebrate Christmas and sometimes we go to church with our grandparents but we do not think of ourselves as spiritual. We noticed that we always have time for saying what we do not like or what we don’t have but we do not say what we are grateful for or how lucky we are to have such a nice home and a heathy family. We agreed that we would write down one thing every day for which we are grateful. We also decided we have to share that with every family member in person or by text message.
Me: So far it sounds as if spiritual has to do with how we are treating each other.
Tom: In our family we go to church a lot and Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. Jesus talked about love a lot. We decided that we want to read part of this section of the New Testament every night at dinner and then talk about how we are doing with living it:
1 Corinthians 13:4-8New International Version (NIV)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
Last night we talked about what it means when it says love is patient.
Me: That is great Tom. Thanks for sharing. Many religions have a similar teaching.
Amena: For our family, if Allah is not present or if our love of Allah is not present, then nothing is any good. My parents say that we must make our bed with love. We must do the dishes with love. Love also means we must be grateful. We could agree with what Tom read.
Ann: In our family we have a lot. All of us go once a month to serve food at Catholic Charities and then stay to visit with many of the homeless people. My mom says that we are no different than the homeless. She says that we must keep making sure that we are humble. She worries that we will think we are better because we have so much.
Paul: If one has an Uncle Jim and he lives next store, spiritual means being intentional about what we do and being intentional about being who we say we want to be.
Me: Thanks Paul. You make it sound as if we can be perfect at living this way.
Paul: Oh no! We are not perfect at doing this but you tell us if we keep asking the questions we will get better at living this way.
Me: That is correct Paul. Thanks for clarifying that.
Will: In our family, my grandmother says, “Child, you think God done took a vacation and does not know that you are not doing your chores or are being mean to your sister or whatever?” When we were talking about our homework Grandma said that “Nothing is worth nothing if we are not putting God first.” We know that Martin Luther King, Jr. was just a man but he tried very hard to live his beliefs. We have a large photograph of him in the kitchen and every morning Grandma loves on all of us and then she looks at the picture of Jesus and says, “Martin we just keep takin one more step.”
Me: That is wonderful. Perhaps we could invite your grandmother to come talk about spirituality sometime.
Will: I don’t know if she would do that Mr. Jim.
Me: Perhaps I will have to ask her if it is okay with you Will.
Will: Okay Mr. Jim
John: Our family has started using the family meeting to ask how we are doing with our purpose as a family. We then talk more about why we are a family.
Me: That is great. I am glad that you are continuing to have family meetings.
I am again so impressed with all of you and your families. I think all of you are very loving, spiritual people. I hope that all of you have a very happy and safe holiday whatever you are celebrating.
When we come back from break perhaps we could share our New Year’s wishes or resolutions.
Susie and Ann, would you hand out the cookies and the assignment?
Happy New Year everyone.
Class: Happy New Year Mr. Jim.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Written December 21, 2016
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