Attentiveness

by Adam Kronberger / Superintendent

September has arrived! This means that school has started, and football season is underway. Whether from my couch or in the stands, I love watching a good game of football. While I have been known to fall asleep a time or two watching a game in my house, when I am awake the game receives my full attention. I don’t want to miss a single snap or replay. In contrast, there are other responsibilities I often struggle with giving my full attention. At the end of the summer I updated my CPR training. I feel confident in the instruction I received and retained, but admit that focus was an issue at times.  

This strange dichotomy can exist in many areas of our lives. Events or tasks that we enjoy, despite any apparent lack of meaning, are often received with our full attention.  While other responsibilities can challenge our abilities to maintain focus, despite an obvious measure of value to them. Such as watching grown men play with a pigskin versus learning how to save someone’s life. This realization helps me to better identify with students.

This month the staff and students are focusing on the character trait of attentiveness. This quality allows us to “concentrate on the person or task before me.” The classroom can be a place where concentration can be difficult. It can often carry little interest for students.  Yet the value of the instruction can be immeasurable. In the parable of the sower (Mark 4), Jesus compares the differences of soils in farming to the amount of softness in our hearts. God is eager to sow His truth into our lives just as a farmer sows seeds into the soil. But a heart (or soil) that is hardened, shallow, or full of weeds the world provides will miss out on life-giving gifts from God.

Every day the truth of God’s Word and the truth in His creation are being presented to and investigated by our students. The teachers work diligently to create a learning environment that initiates student excitement with the material. For the heart of attentiveness is a soft one. We want students to be eager to consider each teacher or assignment as an opportunity to be transformed. Just as a seed planted in good soil multiplies itself into a harvest, our prayer is that students’ lives bear fruit that furthers His Kingdom.

Each day students and teachers will be “caught” demonstrating the monthly character trait. Character Recognition Forms can be obtained from the office or the classroom to be filled out and returned to the office. These students will be celebrated through various forms of recognition. The first week  and chapel of the new school year has been amazing. Please partner with us in prayer as hearts are cultivated to receive God’s Word.

– Adam Kronberger / Superintendent