What child is born and goes through their formative years stating that when they become an adult their plans are to be addicted to alcohol or drugs? How many kids have you asked the age-old question, "So, what do you want to be when you grow up?" and the response was, "homeless"? I don't believe there is a child out there that has ever started school with the idea that they want to fail all their classes and eventually drop out of school. It's hard to imagine that through the playful, carefree world of a six-year old's mind, that they could be dealing with a mental breakdown just a few years down the road. Yet, these are real challenges, among others, that children face today. We need a solution that can take care of all of these societal woes, but what is that elusive silver bullet? I suggest that what many kids today are growing up without is hope.
So, exactly what is hope? Well according to the dictionary hope is "a desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment". Or in a more biblical sense hope is a byproduct of our faith in God, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1. If I may, I'd like to share a visual to "hopefully" clarify the concept of hope. Think about making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for a minute, whatever technique you use, I believe we can all agree that if you have jelly on a piece of sandwich bread and hold it up vertically a certain amount of the jelly will roll or slide off the bread. Conversely, if you hold that same slice of bread up coated with a firm coat of Skippy, the peanut butter is going to stick to the bread like glue. We are confident that peanut butter is going to stick to the bread, that confidence or faith is where hope is created and where we build our trust in an unseen future.
Coming from the lens of nature or nurture, I would suggest that hope falls more in the lane of a nurtured skill or trait. I believe hope dwells in each of us, but how it is developed in us, is dependent on who nurtures or fails to nurture a mindset of hope in us that truly makes the difference. Looking back at our verse in Hebrews, faith provides us with confidence about things that we can't see. A first-grader can't see what their future holds, but we have to be responsible as adults to build their hope for a brighter tomorrow. Regardless of today's circumstances and challenges, it is our responsibility to nurture hope in that child's life. Holding on to hope won't happen without faith. "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31. As the prophet Isaiah aptly explained waiting on God or in other words, trusting in God builds our faith in God, which in turn creates that peanut butter type of hope. We just believe it is going to stick.
There is a vast sea of children growing up today with a sense of hopelessness. They do not have the ideal home setting that we falsely imagine ever child is reared under. The pressure that Hollywood places on our children to be someone else other than who God created them to be is a false narrative. Social media presents an unattainable image of the ideal person, family, and life. Trust me this world is not that perfect and the people living in it aren't perfect by far, self included for sure! Even in education today, we many times miss the mark, by not finding the strengths and aptitudes of the individual and then supporting them to find what it is in life that they were born on purpose to fulfill through God's plan for their unique individual life.
I believe that you were born on purpose for a purpose. Within that purpose each of us is called to be a messenger of hope. As an educator, God has provided me with a grand position to be that teacher of hope in a young person's life. For those of us that were not called to "teach", it is your duty to foster hope in our student's heart and mind. For those that are not a part of the education career field, you are not off the hook! We are all teachers, you can "teach" hope through whatever area of life you serve. In your workplace, through your friendships, on the team’s you coach, or in the settings where you volunteer your service, you can allow your faith to be seen not just heard, and may your faith foster a mindset of hope within all that you come in contact with each day. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13.
Coach Carter
No comments:
Post a Comment