Problem Solving

Last week out on break duty, a 6th grade girl came running up to me all out of breath to tell on herself. She said, "Mrs. Click, I just...I just pushed down (insert boy name)."

I said, "Okay," waiting to hear the rest of it.

Gasping for breath, she said, "Well, he was chasing me with a handful of rocks and said he was going to put them down my shirt."

I looked at her and the witnesses she had brought with her and said, "Well, it looks like you already took care of the problem."

The girls all smiled and went on their way.

Perhaps I should have talked to her about the inappropriateness of pushing students down, but I could barely keep from laughing. I thought her solution to the problem was perfect. She didn't squeal and run, thus causing the boy to give chase. She simply shoved him down. He left her alone.

And he never came to me and complained about being pushed down.

I figured it was problem solving at its best.

The Shadows

Over the last couple of weeks, our small group has been looking at 1 John. We've had several discussions about what it means to walk in the light. It has caused me to think a lot about the time I spend in the shadows. Not quite in the light. Not quite in darkness.

"God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

"Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness...he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him."


The Shadows

In the Shadows
I feel safe.

I can see the Light,
But still, I’m hidden.
No one can see my shame.

The Light compels me though,
And for a time I bask in the Son.
I close my eyes and feel the warmth.

But sometimes I stumble.
and when I open my eyes and look around
I see that I’m in the edge of the Shadow again
and I didn’t even know it.

It feels comfortable.
And safe.
But Darkness lurks in the shadows.

Even though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me.