The post here, was put up by one of my favorite bloggers known as "Lots of Scotts", a mother of five-year-old triplets. It shows a video of a young mother who knows she only has a few weeks to live, and is using part of that precious time to speak to an audience about What is Important in Life. I watched it and took notes, not knowing at that point that D only had 4 days to live. I remember sharing the high points of this talk with D: Know God, Know Yourself, Know the Gospel and Know Your Purpose.
The item on this list that has grasped my heart is "Know the Gospel"; gospel means "good news", and the gospel is found in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I decided to focus on these precious books that can become overly familiar and easy to flip past. Right before he died, D had Married Daughter get me a new Parallel Bible that lines up the New American Standard Bible (the version I've always read) with The Message (a version that makes the Word easy to understand and apply to every day life.) I know, I know: there are many who think The Message is a version with too many manmade fingerprints on it. All I know is, it has made the gospel come alive to me as I'm following it through the first four books of the New Testament.
Being from Texas, I'll quote Waylon and Willie and the boys, "It's time to get back to the basics of life." Such a simple set of marching orders, these four points of wisdom. I'd say I know God and myself pretty well. I am rediscovering the life found in the simple/profound teaching of the gospel. But I am looking for new details that will become part of my new purpose in life.
That said, every year I ask God for some life verses when August rolls around. Some wisdom and purpose sought in the calm before the storm that is known as the New School Year. These are the verses I'm claiming for 2009-2010 for my classroom and my campus:
Trust in the Lord and do good,
Dwell (be still) in the land and
Cultivate (feed securely on) His faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
(Psalm 37:3-5)
The verbs are mine to complete (with twice the trusting); the results are His.
And this school year? I think it will be full of the Good News.
3 comments:
I LOVE my NIV/MSG parallel. I also LOVE that passage from Psalmsin the Message translation.
Prayersfor you as you return to the classroom tomorrow. Your students areblessed to have you!!
Prayers are with you on this day of new beginnings. Your students are so lucky!
Dee from Tennessee
Oh , you and JMom both have tweaked an interest regarding a parallel version/translation.
Now I know this is going to sound crazy but.....
A blog I read rec. that one read a book of the bible 20 times....yes, 20 times.
Okay, I didn't read it 20 times, but I did read James 17 times over a period of a few weeks this summer. Loved it that way, LOVED it. After all, what was one effective method for teaching my second-graders? repetition, repetition, repetition
I only have 3 different ones: KJ, New American Standard and Max Lucado's New Century. BUT, I would go online and read The Message and the NKJ. To be honest, I didn't think I would "like" The Message, but I did...I agree, it makes it come alive and I could soooooo easily see its appeal to a young person.
I am currently reading Eph.repeatedly right now...but the book of James will always hold a special place in my heart. Thanks for sharing this.
And I second what JMom said about your students being blessed.
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