These are words that I heard quite a lot when I was in the 8th grade.
Well, maybe not.
But at least that's how all of my friends at school treated me.
Well, maybe not.
But at least that's how all of my brothers and sisters in the youth group treated me.
Well, maybe not.
None of these things happened. My experience with patience, kindness, compassion, and gentleness came mainly from the presence of some special adults in my life: Phyllis Morgan, Barbara Ellis, Janna Smith, Lucille O’Dell, and Gusta Hoffman, may they glorify God forever.
I believe that we ought to be particularly careful to model these virtues for our boys as school starts this year. That does not mean that we do not need to set boundaries and maintain them, but that there are certain ways to do that which are consistent with these virtues, and others that are not.
I believe that we need to teach these virtues,
but that teaching them is not enough.
I believe that we, as good mentors, ought to illustrate these virtues,
but that is not enough.
I believe that we, as God's children, ought to demonstrate these virtues,
but that is not enough.
I believe that we ought to try to catch them demonstrating these virtues and praise them for the doing of them,
but that is not enough.
I believe that ultimately, we have to create the opportunity for them to do something good
and then encourage the thunder out of the behavior.
To a great extent, life at Westview presents, by design, the potential for those opportunities. Let's put a lot of energy into highlighting the virtues that our kids display after they encounter the opportunities that God and we create for them this fall. I think that we'll find that, not only will it change our perceptions of their progress, but it will also change the behavior of the kids in our care for that period of time.
Grace and peace,
Ron
