Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Worms and Puddles and All Things New

There they were. Two lone students staring intently at a puddle having an animated discussion this morning before school. The subject of their attention? Some squirming worms at the edge of the receding “lake” we’ve been contending with for the last week. As I walked past them I overheard them discussing if all the worms of the world were destroyed in the flood. I love it that our students have such questions on their minds as they connect God’s story they hear daily in class with the world they, quite literally, play in.

While spring in an elementary school pushes the family washing machines into overtime, I’m inclined to believe we should try to look past that. After winter, the sound of chirping birds stood out to me this morning as something to notice. The grass, greening up from a week of rain, and the daffodils showing themselves are also proof that God is awakening life from the slumber of many winter months.

I was challenged several years ago by a speaker at a teacher’s conference to view every aspect of creation as responding to God in praise. Choosing to notice that truth helps us, he proposed, to realize our call to respond in the same way. Trees that blossom, birds that sing, grass that grows (even in the sidewalk cracks he reminded us), worms that squirm, and fish that jump - all do so in response to their creator. We can and should be part of that chorus of response.

Against the backdrop of Passion Week that we marked this morning in chapel, what a rich blessing for our students to start this spring day praising the Lord of life at LCES!  May your week be filled with praise-filled moments of recognizing God’s creation and treasuring the gift of new life – in our world and in our hearts.


SJ

No comments:

Post a Comment