Grace

The sermon on Sunday got me thinking about grace. The topic of the sermon was "Grace at Home." My pastor talked about what it looks like to be a grace-based parent. It was very interesting and compelling for me as a future mother, but where it really hit home for me was in the area of teaching.

I found myself asking the question: What would it look like to have a grace-based classroom?

What would it look like to always look at the intentions of the child rather than their actions?

What would it look like to try to understand the child before I jump down their throat for behavior that doesn't fit my rule book?

He said Before you ever lecture a teenager, ask 10 questions.
I have tried doing this for the past two days. I can't believe how quickly it dissolves situations that I was getting upset about. As soon as I take a breath and try to see where the child is coming from, I realize that their intentions were not evil or cruel, they were just not what I was expecting, not what made me most comfortable.

I'm not all about kids ruling the classroom, but I do have to wonder, Do my kids know what grace is because of how I have treated them?
My pastor pointed out that for children, parents are the first and main God-figure they have in life. He asked the question Can you tell your child "Think about how I treat you. That's the way God treats us as His children." ?
Got me thinking about how powerful of an opportunity I have to impact that lives of these students. What if someday they are presented with the concept of grace, and they look back and realize that the reason they understand grace is because they experienced it with me? Wouldn't that be amazing?

I have been pondering this for the past few days now, trying to think of ways to implement grace into my classroom. It's a lifestyle, a choice, a belief. What I believe about grace impacts every decision I make as a teacher - and believe me, we make a LOT of decisions throughout the day.

The final point of the sermon was that of celebrating a child because of who they are, not based on what they have done, but based on grace. Just as God looks at us and celebrates us as His most prized possession based on His Grace, so also we should celebrate the lives of our children and students as a prized possession, not because of what they have done, but because they are God's masterpiece.

Having this perspective has certainly changed the way I view my students. It has made me a more gracious person. And hopefully is giving my students a deeper taste of what it means to be loved by a gracious God.