Monday, August 20, 2012

Urge Students To Show Kindness

With what shall I come before you LORD and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

-- Micah 6:6-8

Children all across our area are heading back to school today. Some are excited. Some are bummed out. Some are filled with anxiety.

At church Sunday, we had the traditional blessing of the backpacks. During the Children’s Moment, Pastor Danny asked if anyone was excited about going back to school. No response from the kids. Their parents were loudly applauding.

It can be an exciting time. It can also be an awful, traumatic time for those kids who are left out, ridiculed, bullied. I’d like to think we’re more sensitive about these things now but, truthfully, children can be especially cruel.

Each of the children today received a sticker for their backpacks with the word THINK written on it. Pastor Danny explained why. He urged the children to THINK about their words before they say them, to ask themselves if the comment is HELPFUL, to use words to INSPIRE, to ask themselves if the words are NECESSARY, and to be KIND at all times.

I pray all the adults listening in heard the message as well. Because we all could, and should, be more thoughtful in what we say. Words wound. And, no matter how many times we apologize, nothing can ever erase them.

Another friend, a retired teacher, shared a Facebook post urging students to be kind to others. Kindness is one of the best and greatest gifts we can give to anyone. Why does it sometimes seem so hard? A smile, a friendly word, an acknowledgement that the other person exists can mean so much.

In every school hallway today there likely will be at least one student who is new, one who feels embarrassed because he/she isn’t dressed in the “it” style, and one who is an outsider, no matter how long he’s been in that school system. So take a moment to remind your kids to be nice. To think. To smile. To be helpful. To be kind. Because kindness is a gift. It is a way we show others who Jesus is within us.