Back to School
School begins at Immanuel on Mon., Aug. 16, 2021
I came across the quote below on Facebook over the weekend, and I thought it described well something important to remember about children and their learning.
Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples, and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.
--William Martin
It brought to mind our school's theme verse, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it." --Proverbs 22:6. At first glance, this verse seems self-explanatory, but the following, quoted from
Proverbs 22:6 Re-examined, by Wes McAdams at
radicallychristian.com, gives us a refreshing perspective based on the original Hebrew in which the proverb was written.
"'Train Up' Proverbs 22:6 begins with the Hebrew word 'hanak.' This word appears in three other verses in the Old Testament [Deuteronomy 20:5; 1 Kings 8:63; 2 Chronicles 7:5]. Interestingly, every other time this word is used, it is not translated, 'train up,' it is translated, 'dedicate.' It means to get something started or initiate something.
"So the first part of the Proverb is about starting a child off in a certain direction or starting him on a path.
"'In the Way He [Should] Go' The next phrase is very interesting. The word 'should' does not actually appear in the original Hebrew at all. The phrase literally means, 'in his way.'"
We all learn in ways unique to us, and we would do well to remember that God made us in His image, but unique and special in our own ways.
Starting children on their unique paths by providing them with opportunities to learn about their God, furnishing an education in the Three Rs, and allowing them to experience all the wonder of God's creation--the beautiful and the bittersweet--in their way, seems an appropriate way to raise up God's precious gift of children. At Immanuel Lutheran School we say, "Extraordinary things happen on ordinary days."
Lori Ward St.Vincent
Director of Communications
