Humble Heart

Now, I don’t want to cause any conflict, but as a parent I was impressed again this week. You may disagree, and I’m good with that, but the inevitable happened this week. Astoria had the first confirmed case of COVID in the school. Now, I anticipated this happening within the first couple of weeks, which it did, and I don’t think any of us should be surprised. I mean, it is actually rather surprising we haven’t had other cases pop up here yet (that I’m aware of).
And I don’t know what the future holds, and I’m not making any judgments about how it will be handled, but I was impressed once again with our local school district. As ‘acting’ principal for the fourth grade class, no one asked for my input, but if they had, I don’t think I would have had anything to add. The isolation and adjusting of classes and schedules for the older kids worked well from my perspective. But I am incredibly thankful, especially as a parent, the elementary was able to finish the week as planned.
And so, as I’m sure you ask from time to time as you read these, what’s my point? Part of it is to praise our school leaders (admin, board, etc) for their efforts in this unprecedented time. But my other point is this: if you disagree with how it was handled, what are you going to do about it? Huh? Listen, I get I wasn’t effected the same way some of the other parents and kids were, and so I don’t have the same emotions you might. But either way, we all have to deal with the circumstances that surround us.
So what are we going to do? Me, personally, just be thankful that our school is trying so hard to get our kids a good education despite the circumstances. What about you?
A person who followed Jesus closely while Jesus walked this earth wrote later, “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.” (1 Peter 3.8, ESV) And I realize not all of us follow Jesus, but all of us live near. All of us are part of a community. All of us can benefit greatly from these words…especially a humble mind. We might do things differently than those in authority over us or our kids, but that doesn’t mean we can’t support them. It doesn’t mean we can’t respect their choices, even if they vary from what we might choose, and at the very least respect them.
That’s not to say, like I wrote last week, we can’t voice our concerns, but please do so in a positive and productive way. (Facebook is NOT that way FYI).
And so, what are we going to do? My prayer is we seek love, humility and a tender heart. God bless.