Dwelling on Truth

The Bible says to think about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praise-worthy. This becomes especially important in the face of lies hurled at us by the world and even our friends.

I read a friend's blogpost about being an MK, but within it, he included 5 questions that were posted in his high school English teacher's class. I decided to jump-start the 3rd quarter with those questions.

1. Who am I?

2. Who is my neighbor?

3. What is wrong with the world?

4. What is the significance of words?

5. How then shall I live?

I began the third quarter with poetry. I'm not a poetry expert. I am not good at interpreting poetry. I don't really even like poetry, but I do like spoken word poetry. I wanted to give them an example of spoken word poetry, so I played the video "To This Day." Right before class, I threw in some reflection questions just for the fun of it. I also wanted to see how discerning they could be about the world's messages of positivity and belief in self. Again, I am thankful that I teach in a Christian school where we can talk about these issues and offer truth rather than empty lies or unfounded assurances.

Most of the kids didn't notice what was missing in the poem. I expected that. I also expected at least one person to "get it" and she did. She also happens to write well. Here is her response:

      “I learned that anti-depressants are not going to work and that there are many broken people in the world today facing their own struggles. I disagree that the cure is merely believing in oneself. It’s much more than that. Man will always be broken and empty without God. Anti-depressants will not do the job. No matter how hard anyone tries, they will never find true contentment and joy without Jesus… In truth, without God, we are all broken people with no remedy and nothing to make us whole. There is only one answer and only one solution: God.”

What I didn't expect to happen was that a nearly six-foot-tall boy in the back would be sobbing at the end of class. What I didn't expect was that he would be surrounded by 3 other friends and when I watched to see what they would do, I saw them not trying to cheer him up by making him laugh, but instead, they were taking turns praying with him and for him. I got his reflection afterwards and saw that he said he is going through depression and has contemplated suicide before. He barely gives a hint of that at school. He distracts himself and just plays the class clown. I read another reflection by a girl who managed to hold in her tears and she said that she felt that the poem had exposed her own heart, but she didn't mention depression. She was one that had talked to me after the Puritan sermon assignment, and I think she may be a Christian or at least around the Wicket Gate. 

I realized again how I don't really know what God is doing in this batch of kids, but somehow He seems to be working. He's at least giving opportunities that I had not planned for at the beginning of the year. Being a Christian teacher is so, so much more than being a  dispenser of information. It's about getting to the hearts of the children and pointing them to things of eternal value. 

The beginning of my lesson for tomorrow has significantly changed. Now we're going to go through some of the lines of the poem and discuss who we are, the power of words, and the true hope that is so obviously missing in the poem. I hope my students begin to dwell on truth, think about truth, and not get sucked into the lies of the world. 

AND a big thank you to Catherine for the 3 Scripture Reference Counseling books that arrived right before this incident. :) 

Here's the video: