A NEW START AND THANKSGIVING

I just wanted to begin here by saying thankyou to the many Christian Family on AAG who have been with me in my walk with Our Lord and Saviour. Through the good times and through all of the rough patches that helped us to bond and grow in love and Spirit. You are all very special to me and I know that God has sent each and every one of you into my life and I am a very blessed woman indeed. THANKYOU GOD!! I cannot even begin to explain or put into words how much you all mean to me and how grateful I am to God and to this family in Christ.

Today I was at our local Salvation Army Thrift Store and a wonderful lady from my church was on duty at the cash register.Beside her was a booklet that she gave me to read and there was one article in it that REALLY spoke to me and stirred so much gratefulness in my heart and God has put it on this heart to pass it along today as a reminder to us all to always look for the good in everyone we meet and shine the light of Jesus into those lives the best that we can for His Glory.

This article was written by Diane Stark and to Diane,God bless you wherever you are for shining God's Glorious light around you and for touching each and every one who reads this with the love of Jesus.AMEN!!

A NEW START

Would you like me to tell you about your students?" one of the Grade 2 teachers asked, reaching for my class roster.

I was new to the school and anxious to make friends, so I said, "Sure."

The other teacher scanned the names of the children who would comprise my grade 3 class. "Wow, you're going to have a rough school year,"she clucked.

She began pointing out student names. " This little girl, " she said , "is sweet, but not too bright. Oh, and her mother is a real pain in the neck."

"This boy," she went on , "is nothing but trouble.He'll be in jail someday, mark my words."

She continued down my list, saying something negative about nearly every one of my students. Her words rang in my head. This one is a foster child, That one is a thief. His mother is on her fourth husband.

Finally, she handed me back the roster, smiled and said, " Now you'll know who you're dealing with."

SECOND CHANCES

As each student came through my classroom door that first day of school, the teacher's words rang in my ears.

"hi, I'm Mrs.Stark," I said. "Whats your name?"

"I'm Darren," a tall, skinny boy replied. He's nothing but trouble, I couldn't help thinking.

I met child after child, subconsciously prejudging each one. Her dad is in prison, That boy is in foster care. This one can't read.

Throughout the morning, the other teacher's warning echoed in my head.

You're going to have a rough school year.

At lunch time, I went to the teacher's lounge. Since I was new, a few of the other teachers introduced themselves and asked me about myself.

I answered their questions honestly, but I didn't tell them that I'd flunked high-school chemistry. No deep, dark secrets, I only told them what I wanted them to know.

And there was no one there, pointing to my name on a list, saying, "oh, that Diane Stark, you'll have to watch out for her. She's not a very good teacher. She uses all the toner in the copy machine and never refills it. Oh, and the worst part is that she bribes her students with candy to get them to behave." There was no one telling the other teachers about my shortcomings.

I was given the benefit of the doubt. And I realized that my third-graders deserved the same chance I was getting. After all, how many second chances had God given me? More times than I can count, He has taken my sins as far as the east is from the west.(See Psalm 103:12). Surely He would expect me to do the same for my group of nine-year-olds.

"THAT WAS LAST YEAR"

Back in my classroom, I discarded the afternoon lesson. Instead, I asked each child to write a letter. " Tell me three things you want me to know about you, " I said."They can be things about school, your family or your interests. You can tell me anything you want me to know."

When I collected their letters, I was surprised and touched by what the children had chosen to share. Many of them wrote about their siblings, their pets and their favourite foods. But a few were more personal. The little girl whose father was incarcerated wrote, " my dad is in jail because he sold drugs. He did a bad thing, but that doesn't make him bad. It doesn't mean I'm bad, either, even though kids make fun of me."

Another child wrote, " my favourite foods are pizza, macaroni and cheese, and spaghetti. But sometimes when I'm at school, I can't think right because I'm so hungry. I miss breakfast a lot. And sometimes dinner, too. But I get to eat lunch at school. I like school."

Darren,the boy who I'd been warned was "nothing but trouble," wrote, "I hate school and I hate teachers. I'm bad but I aint stupid, so don't say I am."

Uh,oh, I thought. When the rest of the students went to art class, I asked Darren to stay behind.

"I asked you to stay back because I had a question about your letter." I said with a smile. "Can you read it to me, please?"

He Shrugged."It says I'm a bad kid."

"Darren, that's not what it says. Besides, you're not a bad kid."

"You haven't known me very long,"he answered."Once you know me, you'll think I'm bad. And stupid, too." "Darren, when you wrote this, what were you trying to tell me?"

He took a deep breath and said, " That I'm stupid. That I used to try in school but I couldn't get it. So I stopped trying and just started being bad. Now, nobody remembers that I'm stupid."

It was true. His teacher from last year had only mentioned his rebellious behaviour, not any academic deficiencies. His little cover-up had worked.

"Darren," I whispered. "Can I tell you a secret? Someone once told me that I was going to have a bad school year. But I decided that I wouldn't.":

"You can just decide to make things better?" He asked. "How?"

"You have to try your best," I said, "And remember that every day and everry school year is a brand-new start."

Darren smiled. " Last year doesn't matter now?"

"Not with me it doesn't."

He thought for a minute. " I don't want to have a bad school year, either."

The next morning, Darren gave me back the letter he'd written. He'd done some editing and it now read, " I used to hate school and I used to hate teachers, But that was last year."

I laughed and hugged that "nothing but trouble" boy.

AND I THANKED GOD FOR BRAND NEW STARTS

AMEN,AMEN,AMEN!!