Wednesday, February 11, 2015

"How dare you not shine as brightly as you can?"

The birthday week continues. Today we're celebrating 8th grader Taylor Pozzebon, a total rock star. I had Taylor as a student in my (almost) all girl class last year and quickly learned how kind, enthusiastic, well-mannered and creative she is. I'm thankful that we keep showing up in each other's lives now that she's a year older. 


The early morning DC meetings have made our bible study schedule wacky this week so my girls stayed after school with me this afternoon. 11 of them invaded with cookies and laughter and conversation about God and redemptive stories and our future kids and the trip this weekend. I love these sweet girls and having intentional time with them.


Even though my birthday was two days ago, they showed up with all of these beautiful birthday bracelets for me. My jaw dropped in awe. They're so good at tying knots. From left to right-- Elyse, Maggie Lorenz, Rachel Harris, Sophie, Maddie Halk, Taylor Pozz and Elise Ruby. 


I was surprised at home to find a box from the one and only Cara Geoghegan waiting for me. After unrolling and cutting through 10 layers of bubble wrap I uncovered this beauty. Cara is a lover of monograms and Lily Pulitzer and I just stared in awe at this canvas. I'm obsessed. She did such a phenomenal job and I'm so thankful for her time and creativity.


It's a Wyld Life Campaigner's night at Mama Bear's. We gathered together to sing while Blaire played Thrive and Jesus Paid It All.

KCraig organized a super cool gallery walk of bible verses that mentioned the bible all over the cafe. We independently walked around to write down the verses and pick out the alternative names for the bible-- the word, my instructions, the law, guide. the truth, commandments.

We talked in small groups about what we had found and then met back up as a large group. Diane, KCraig, Trulock, Ryan and I served as a panel answering their questions about the bible. We're not scholars, but we shared what we know from our own experience of learning about the bible and growing in our faith.


I grew up in a family that went to church every single week. I was always in Sunday School during elementary school and then very involved in our church's youth group in middle school and HS. Because of that, I had a strong foundation of biblical knowledge and faith. I was learning scripture and stories about Jesus at church, with my small group and at Tecumseh in the summer. I'm so thankful I grew up that way.

Think about playing a sport-- before you go compete in a game or a match you have to prepare. You practice with your team, get advice from a coach, learn about how to play, understand the fundamentals. The more you understand the sport, the more likely you are to play well.

So if life is the game, then being a strong Christian requires being prepared. By reading the bible, going to church and learning from other Christians you will be so much more ready. God's word is a book of instructions, truth and guidance for us. It's so important that the Bible is something we dive into, not something that just sits on the shelf.


I consider myself so lucky that I get to be part of all of this with girls like Grace, Sarah, Sydney, Cecilia and Carly. I think the world of each of them and want to help them become more of the person God created each of them to be. I want to make my words matter in their lives and keep pointing them back to God and his words. Jesus is the center of all that we're doing here.

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