A Third Grade Perspective on the New Year

I have been a long term sub for art since the beginning of the school year. I teach one thing to the kindergarten through 2nd graders and something different for the3rd through 5th graders; Sometimes I will even break it into 3 levels. I have wanted to do the same project for some time now and with the 2nd semester starting at the new year I found my perfect opportunity. I had all my students make posters for the new year. For the kindergartners, I kept it simple :we folded a paper in quarters  and wrote 2022 with 1 number in each quadrant.  I then instructed them to draw and color circles in one quadrant, squares in another, triangles in the third and hearts in the 4th.  

With the 1st and 2nd graders I had them write 2022 on their paper and then color it in, When that was completed, I  taught them a little about collage.  Instead  of  using pictures, we cut out shapes and then glued them around the 2022.  

 

With the 3rd through 5th graders I taught about the 7 elements of art, (to read an excellent piece on why the elements are important click here) which are:

Line

Shape

Space

Form

Color

Value 

Texture

I then ask them to make a poster about 2022 and incorporate at least 3 of the 7 elements of art.  

The students have produced some excellent work.  This third grader's response shows how many of our kids are eager to get out from under the cloud of Co-vid.

While they are working or when they show me their finished product, I point out the elements that I see they incorporated.  This one has at least one example of  color (the co-vid molecules), value (the cloud and the rain), shape (the mask), space (spacing is used very effectively in all of the panels) , line (the rain) and texture (The mask).  When I point out these elements I ask if they planned them.  Many say they have and many have not.  At the end of class, I advise how most art work has at least 3 if not more of those elements.   Finally, I  encourage in them to look for these elements not only in their work but in all manners of art.  

I found out this week that the school has hired a new art teacher.  I am very glad for the opportunity I have had to teach these students for so long. I have not only seen the growth of the students but my growth as an educator..  I share the hopefulness of this artist for the coming year.  I wrote several pieces last year about surviving 2021.  My recent successes among other things have inspired me that 2022 could indeed be the best year ever and it is possible to thrive in difficult times.  

We Interrupt our Allen Levi Concert in Revese ...

For this New Years Evw Message from Allen Levi.

Halftime Speech for 2021

 Today is the 183rd day of the year.  This means at Noon today we were halfway through 2021.  Tomorrow there are 182 days left in the year.  Yesterday was the 182nd day of this year.  How did those days go for you?  What did you do well? What could you start doing today to Make 2021 better than the first half?  Think about that today and start devising a 2nd half strategy before we are at the 2 minute warning of the year.

How to Get Through 2021: Press On.

 When I wrote my first How to get through 2021 post, I did not expect to write another one the next month and certainly not to write another one the month after that.  But this seems to be exactly what I'm doing.

In my first installment, I talked about how Day by Day interaction with God will help us get through difficult times,  In the second I mentioned about how true Shoulder to Shoulder fellowship will aid us in that journey.  That should be it, I thought.  If God is not all encompassing enough relying on  and serving others who are also relying on and serving God should fill in the gaps. 

Well there seems to be a third ingredient in progressing through difficult times and I was reminded it of last night when listening to Spotify. I was listening to a song by Billy Sprague , a musician, song writer and performer who years ago lost his fiance in a car accident.  She was driving to one of his concerts when the accident occurred. He took a 3 year hiatus from recording and touring and his 2nd release after his return led off with the song, Press On.

  

Although Sprague certainly did not write this song for Covid the emotions expressed are similar to the results of living in lock-down. 

Consider these lyrics

... the passion for life drained like blood from my chest

And it took more than  my will just to take a step when the compass of hope was gone. 

or

Every desperate prayer seemed like heaven refused and some days I found faith meant just tying my shoes and it was all I could do to press on.

In shampoo bottle parlance, if Day by Day is wash and Shoulder to Shoulder is rinse then Press On is repeat.  Pressing on is a continuation of trusting God  and walking along side each other through our trials and our joys.  

Look at the Shoulder to Shoulder living happening in the 2nd verse...

On the oceans so lonesome I  was not left alone

had some heavenly friends when my heart was a stone

and they carried my heart ache and made it their own

when the current of sorrow was strong.

(and one said)

"I pray your memories will not drag you down

not be anchors but treasures of the love that you found"

and his kind words turned hurt into comfort somehow

and the wind in my sails to press on.

I think at least those of us  in western society consider pressing on a solitary activity.  I think it is actually quite communal.  There are heartaches every in life that could be greatly  benefit from  a group of people making it their own.  Even as I was writing this, a friend called to invite me to a church service on Easter which reminded me how his own father said kind words to me on an Easter Sunday some 30 years ago that put the  wind back  in my sails.  I'll save that story for another time. 

In Philippians Chapter 3 the Apostle Paul discusses the concept of pressing on.  In verse 9 he talks about attaining a righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith in Christ.  In verses 10 and 11 he talks about knowing Christ through his  suffering , death and resurrection. In verses 12 and 14 he describes how he is progressing to this point but having not yet reached it and how  he is pressing on towards that goal.  In the 2nd part of the 13th verse he writes something that describes a successful strategy for combating grief, co-vid or anything that life throws at us ...

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Philippians 3:13B (NIV)

Paul as he often does is using his words to assign priorities.  The past can be very instructional to us but we should never let it define us.  Grief doesn't define us. Lock-down shouldn't define us. A Christians goal should be to become more like Christ.  We can do that by pressing on and we weren't meant to that alone. 

 

 I think this may be it, but who knows, there is still a lot of 2021 to get through and I know a lot of songs.  

How to Get Through 2021: Shoulder to Shoulder

Last month I wrote about how to get through 2021 by advocating adherence to the lyrics of  Day by Day from the musical Godspell. I've been in a bit of a musical renaissance lately.  I've been listening to music for 2 to 3 hours each day and much of it has had an encouraging effect on my outlook on life.  

On the way to work, I listen to the same playlist each morning which features a lot of music from Allen Levi.  In a live concert Allen, who lives and has his recording studio on a Georgia farm describes how he saw two purple finches at the bird feeder outside of his studio.  The first was blind in his right eye and the second blind in the left eye.  

Levi wrote a fictional conversation from one bird to the other about teaming up "to make it through this obstacle course called life. "

Levi's finch also tells his prospective traveling partner that 

"If we travel all alone the danger's plenty but side by side were perfect 20/20."

This got me thinking about the obstacle course that was the year 2020 and how that 2020 was far from perfect in seemingly every aspect. 

2021seems to be shaping up like a movie called 2020: The year that wouldn't leave.  Political turmoil, Covid, Tom Brady winning another Super Bowl.  

If the answer to getting through this year is shoulder to shoulder, a new question that emerges is how do we do that 6 feet apart? 

 

I might suggest 3 ways.

1) Stay positive with each other.

Discontentment is a more infectious virus than even Covid. When one person complains a line soon forms so everyone can get in on the act. 

To stay positive with each other, you first need to stay positive yourself so you can pass it on to others.  In the same way, walking in step with positive people will help you combat negative thoughts and behavior patterns.

Consider the ripple effects of Phillippians 4:4- 9 ...

First have a pattern of rejoicing always (vs.4). add to that gentleness (vs. 5) remove anxiety by presenting your needs to God (vs 6 )and God's peace will guard your heart (vs. 7).  Then to cap it all off think and act only in ways that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent,  and 

praiseworthy (verses 8&9)

2. Encourage each other.

The English Standard (ESV) New International (NIV) and New American Standard (NASB) version of the Bible (3 of my favorite versions) all translated the 1st word of Isaiah 35:3 as strengthen.

ESV: Strengthen the weak hands,

         and make firm the feeble knees. 

NIV: Strengthen the feeble hands,

        steady the knees that give way;

NASB: Strengthen the exhausted, and make the feeble strong. 

In 1995 the NASB went through a revision and the verse is now translated ...

Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.

When you think about it, encouragement is a kind of strengthening. And you have to admit that 2021 life is enough to make the strongest among us exhausted and feeble.  Words and acts of encouragement can provide an oasis in a barren wasteland. 

3. Find Common Ground

Acts chapter 17:16-34  is generally considered a passage that gives a blueprint on evangelism.  Paul in Athens is able to study the culture and then use the culture as a way of sharing the message of Jesus.  One ministry I know took this pattern and developed a method called ask, admire and admit as a way of presenting the gospel to others.

I believe that Paul's model can also be used beyond the scope of evangelism to promote unity.  As you may have noticed we live in an increasingly divisive society even among Christ-followers.  I sometimes think I can only use 24 letters on Facebook as I always seem to be minding my p's and q's. The thing about Facebook is that ideally our circle is composed of friends, relatives, and acquaintances with whom we once shared common bonds.  Sometimes it helps me to remember those bonds and post those memories as a way of strengthening those bonds rather than focussing on differences. 

In January I wrote that depending on God is a good way to get through 2021.  Depending on each other seems to be the next logical step as God created us to be in relationship with one another.  Working in concert through this obstacle course called life is much better than being each other's obstacles. 

How to get through 2021: Day by Day

I volunteer with our church youth group, It is for 6th graders through 12th graders.  Until recently it was two separate youth groups one for 6th 7th and 8th graders and one for 9th through 12th graders  meeting on separate nights of the week.  During the Summer we would allow the incoming 6th graders to join the middle school group and the outgoing 8th graders to attend both groups.  As the Summer would draw to an end I would give the outgoing 8th graders a short (2-3 minute) commencement  on their last night of the younger group.

In 2016 my son Charlie was one of the kids moving up to the high school group.  I challenged the students to have a "2020" vision of what they hoped to achieve in High School especially how they could be used by God in their new schools.  

Little did any of us know about what the year 2020 held for us. In fact my son's senior year was progressing quite normally until March 13th turned out to be his last day of high school that actually met at the high school.  Since that day, 2020 was a rather tumultuous year (Understatement Alert).  

The events of the past 2 weeks make 2021 look like it's going to be more of the same.  How do we get through another year like that?

The answer both figurarively, literally and musically is Day By Day

 

As this  great song suggests we can not only get through 2021 but thrive in the midst of it by doing these 3 things from Day by Day, day by day.

Seeing God more clearly

Loving God more dearly

Following God more nearly.

So like I told the YG in 2016 vision is important.  The vision that God is showing me for 2021 requires more time Seeing God through time spent in his word, Following God through obedience to his word  and Loving God by loving his creation.  I hope to expound on this more in further posts. Right now I'm just taking it day by day.