First Days
For the past seventeen years, I've had a first day of school. Oh, I had them before that, but now I have them with my kids. I've gone from buying glue sticks and fat Crayons to $75 parking stickers and skinny jeans. (Yes, the parking sticker stings a bit.)
Over the years I've blogged about the first day of school. The fact this is the first blog I've written since the last first day of school should tell you something about my commitment to blogging. But it should also tell you how important the first day of school is to me.
Why is it so important?
Here's why: The first day of school holds promise unlike any other school day. The promise of reconnecting with old friends. Making new friends. New adventures. And my personal favorite, new knowledge.
But each of those things can also be a little scary. Old friends change. Finding new friends can be a challenge, even in a sea of over 2,000 students. New adventures sometimes bring problems (any time I get lost, I tell my kids we're on an adventure). And new knowledge? Well, I think we've all learned a lot of things we'd rather not know recently, haven't we?
So this year, I have a word for my daughter, who'll be a junior in high school, and my son, who'll be taking classes at the county college. It's a pretty important word. Are you ready for it?
Kindness.
Yep. That's it.
I want my children to experience kindness every single day. I want people to love them both as much as I do. Their humor, their intelligence, their sense of right and wrong, all of it. I want people to see them as I do and to treat them with kindness.
Sadly, I know that may not always happen. There will always be a jerk or a mean girl. There will always be a teacher or professor who doesn't see what I see when my kids speak or who's just having a bad day. And there will always be anger and hatred.
And again, I have a word for my kids.
Kindness.
I pray for my kids to respond to everyone with kindness. Respond to impatience with kindness. Respond to anger with kindness. Answer ignorance and hatred with kindness.
And I'm not talking about the idea of "kill with kindness." In fact, I'm not even sure that phrase has the same meaning it did when Mr. Shakespeare first wrote it. For our society, the phrase has taken on a darker meaning. Too often today, the saying means, "I'm going to be so nice to you, it's going to make you feel horrible."
Instead, I want my children to be kind to everyone they meet because it's what God wants. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Colossae to "Put on ... kindness ..." (Colossians 3:12). I want my kids to wear their kindness in such a way others see it plainly.
So my prayer for this first day of school is that my children--and yours--experience kindness on all sides of the equation. I pray they cling to kindness in an unkind world. Because a little kindness can go a long way. Or as Solomon, in his wisdom, wrote, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." (Proverbs 15:1)
Let's all be kind this year.
Over the years I've blogged about the first day of school. The fact this is the first blog I've written since the last first day of school should tell you something about my commitment to blogging. But it should also tell you how important the first day of school is to me.
Why is it so important?
Here's why: The first day of school holds promise unlike any other school day. The promise of reconnecting with old friends. Making new friends. New adventures. And my personal favorite, new knowledge.
But each of those things can also be a little scary. Old friends change. Finding new friends can be a challenge, even in a sea of over 2,000 students. New adventures sometimes bring problems (any time I get lost, I tell my kids we're on an adventure). And new knowledge? Well, I think we've all learned a lot of things we'd rather not know recently, haven't we?
So this year, I have a word for my daughter, who'll be a junior in high school, and my son, who'll be taking classes at the county college. It's a pretty important word. Are you ready for it?
Kindness.
Yep. That's it.
I want my children to experience kindness every single day. I want people to love them both as much as I do. Their humor, their intelligence, their sense of right and wrong, all of it. I want people to see them as I do and to treat them with kindness.
Sadly, I know that may not always happen. There will always be a jerk or a mean girl. There will always be a teacher or professor who doesn't see what I see when my kids speak or who's just having a bad day. And there will always be anger and hatred.
And again, I have a word for my kids.
Kindness.
I pray for my kids to respond to everyone with kindness. Respond to impatience with kindness. Respond to anger with kindness. Answer ignorance and hatred with kindness.
And I'm not talking about the idea of "kill with kindness." In fact, I'm not even sure that phrase has the same meaning it did when Mr. Shakespeare first wrote it. For our society, the phrase has taken on a darker meaning. Too often today, the saying means, "I'm going to be so nice to you, it's going to make you feel horrible."
Instead, I want my children to be kind to everyone they meet because it's what God wants. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Colossae to "Put on ... kindness ..." (Colossians 3:12). I want my kids to wear their kindness in such a way others see it plainly.
So my prayer for this first day of school is that my children--and yours--experience kindness on all sides of the equation. I pray they cling to kindness in an unkind world. Because a little kindness can go a long way. Or as Solomon, in his wisdom, wrote, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." (Proverbs 15:1)
Let's all be kind this year.
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