Lent - Day 4 - Love Your Neighbor

Dear Christian educators,

Who is your neighbor? Naturally, they can be the people in your neighborhood, but who do you spent more time with? Your school community - whether it is your students or colleagues, we spend the greatest part of our day in school. As we interact with so many image-bearers, this commandment applies. Since love has been the focus of our last three days, let's specifically look at loving our colleagues today.

Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve!



Day 4

Matthew 22:39 English Standard Version (ESV)

39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

How do we love our colleagues (neighbors)? At times, it is simple because we have learned to work together much better since PLC (Professional Learning Communities - or whatever the most popular term is today). However, that never erases the natural ebb and flow of being human, being flesh and blood. Without a doubt, we will rub someone the wrong way whether it is intentional or not, by commission or omission. When we know we have offended, may the Holy Spirit convict us quickly and go to the person one-on-one to make amends. When we don't even realize we have offended our neighbor (colleague), be prayerful each day for awareness of other's feelings. If someone seems distant, be the first to be friendly. As Christian educators we have the call to love our neighbor as ourself. 

Dear Lord,

This command is hard. I'm not sure why. We want to please You with obedience to the 1st command by loving You with our whole heart, our whole soul and all our might, but then You added the 2nd one: love your neighbor as yourself. Our colleagues should know us by our love and when they don't, we are not able to give You the glory. Create in us a clean heart, O Lord, that we may love our neighbors, our colleagues, with intention. Help to always go to them first face-to-face to resolve any issues that we may win them over with our conduct. To You be all glory as You help us, Gracious Lord. Amen.

Prayerfully yours,

K 

Karen C. Seddon

CEAI - Christian Educators Assoc. Int.

State Director for Florida

kseddon@ceai.org

407.892.5651

....an unqualified recipient of His unconditional love

www.ceai.org

http://the16-9movement.blogspot.com/

CIPE website

2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Christian Educators Association International is the only professional association in the United States specifically for Christian educators in public schools.  CEAI protects our members first in prayer, next with excellent professional liability insurance and other benefits while helping them live out their high calling as a Christian in the public school. 

Lent - Day 3 - Love One Another

Dear Christian educators,

This is our high calling, dear friends. We need to be known for our love on our school campuses. We love because He loved us first. Don't worry if you haven't loved the way you should. None of us have, but we serve the God of Love, Who will enable us to love more deeply as we cry out to Him. During Lent, let's pray for more love, particularly for the unlovables. You know who they are! Can you imagine if we started loving on them instead of being annoyed by them? It would change everything! May God give you His power to do just that.

Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve!


Day 3

John 15:12-17 English Standard Version (ESV)

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

What does loving the unlovable look like? Whenever that student begins to show his/her ways, deal with them in private. Bring them in the hall for a moment (while you still have your eye on the others, of course). Make the attempt to let them know you are not his/her enemy and in fact are their advocate. Try a phone call home with good news. They may have never received one before. Being proactive with an unlovable, may mean a smile before class, an unrelated inquiry to their day having nothing to do with school. It may even be a small sincere note to just them. It's hard to do, but if you ask God for creative ways to love them, there is no doubt you will get help. After all it says, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." That's when we know we are praying in His will.

Dear Lord,

Why is loving others hard? It shouldn't be. It should come naturally, yet sometimes people just know how to push our buttons. Will you help us Lord to come up with creative ways to love those who seem unlovable? We know that You love them. Please shine the light on what You see and how we can be more observant. Help us to practice looking as them as fearfully and wonderfully made. Lord, please grant us Your ways that we may be pleasing in Your sight and a blessing to all - yes, even the unlovables. Lord, Your commandment is to love one another as You have loved us. You even call us friends if we love like You do. That's incredible. Thank You for choosing us and help us to bear fruit that Your fruit may abide on our campuses. We ask because You said whatever you ask in My Father's Name, He will give it to us. Help us to love one another!

Prayerfully yours,

K 

Karen C. Seddon

CEAI - Christian Educators Assoc. Int.

State Director for Florida

kseddon@ceai.org

407.892.5651

....an unqualified recipient of His unconditional love

www.ceai.org

http://the16-9movement.blogspot.com/

CIPE website

2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Christian Educators Association International is the only professional association in the United States specifically for Christian educators in public schools.  CEAI protects our members first in prayer, next with excellent professional liability insurance and other benefits while helping them live out their high calling as a Christian in the public school. 

Lent - Day 2 - Love is Patient

Dear Christian educators,

For the next few days we will go a little deeper with the first Fruit of the Spirit. Love is mentioned over 300 times (131 in the Old Testament and 179 in the New Testament KJV) so it would be very lengthy to try to examine all of them during Lent. I have instead chosen 7 verses to share about love for Days 2-8.

Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve!




Day 2

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 English Standard Version (ESV)

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

What if we applied only the first sentence in our classrooms? Just being reminded of the need to be patient and kind is huge. Patience is not natural but it is a fruit. Kindness is probably more tangible because we can teach the students kindness. They LOVE participating in a "Random Acts of Kindness" initiative. I love how Paul also explains what love is NOT! It is not arrogant or rude, nor insists on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful nor rejoices at wrongdoing. Oh my, it is much easier to NOT love than to love (without the Lord, of course). May God grant you the supernatural ability to be like Him and display LOVE to your students and colleagues. Over 3 years ago, I wrote a blog post, "Love in the Classroom" if you care to check it out it may help with some ideas.

Dear Lord,

Help us! We want to love. We want to be like You, but we fall so short. Lord, why? It is the desire of our hearts to be patient and kind and to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things. You are the Waymaker Who can show us the way. You are the Chainbreaker that can break the chains of our stony hearts. You are the Paintaker, Who can remove all pain when we loved deeply and lost. Oh Lord, bless us with a loving heart towards those we see each day. Open our hearts wide for Your kind of love. It is in great expectation that we ask in the Holy Name of Jesus. Amen.

Prayerfully yours,

K 

Karen C. Seddon

CEAI - Christian Educators Assoc. Int.

State Director for Florida

kseddon@ceai.org

407.892.5651

....an unqualified recipient of His unconditional love

www.ceai.org

http://the16-9movement.blogspot.com/

CIPE website

2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Christian Educators Association International is the only professional association in the United States specifically for Christian educators in public schools.  CEAI protects our members first in prayer, next with excellent professional liability insurance and other benefits while helping them live out their high calling as a Christian in the public school. 

Lent - Day 1 - The Fruit of the Spirit

Dear Christian educators,

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten season. You can "give up" something or you can be an intentional blessing to others or do both. One way to bless others is to walk the Fruit of the Spirit and pray our way through the Bible. When you pray the Bible, you know you are in God's will. 

Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains:

• A Scripture based on the Fruit of the Spirit.
• A small reflection of how we can relate it to the school community.
• A prayer of the Scripture 
• An image of the Scripture (Feel free to share - I took the pictures of His handiwork.)

Day 1 

Galatians 5:22-23 English Standard Version (ESV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Did you know you can hang a poster in your classroom with the Fruit of the Spirit? Just use the words as an encouragement, not the actual verse. Don't you love that we are reassured in the verse itself that against such things there is no law. What school wouldn't want teachers and students that display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? 

Compass, a ministry of Grace Church in MN has excellent resources for Christian educators including a poster of the Fruit of the Spirit for younger students. You can search for other examples of posters like the one I found from Society 6. More importantly, is how we walk our walk with the children and our colleagues displaying the Fruit in our lives. It's not easy, but all things are possible with God.

Dear Lord,

Please bless the students through us. We know that we are ambassadors for You and when we let You live through us the Fruit of the Spirit is natural. Let love, joy and peace exude from us this Lenten season. Please help us to be purposeful about our walk by being good, kind and gentle to those we encounter on our campuses each day. We thank You Father for Your incredible patience with us. Will You give us a double portion of patience today. Oh Lord, self-control is really an oxymoron for us. Will you take control that we may be like You. Finally, we want to thank You for Your faithfulness to us each day and for Your steadfast love. Help us to be faithful to our school community, our students, colleagues and parents. We love You and look to You for the ability to display Your Fruit legally and gracefully today. The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; against such things there is no law. Thank you for that Lord!

We ask in the beautiful Name of Jesus,
Amen.

Prayerfully yours,

K 

Karen C. Seddon

CEAI - Christian Educators Assoc. Int.

State Director for Florida

kseddon@ceai.org

407.892.5651

....an unqualified recipient of His unconditional love

www.ceai.org

CIPE website

2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Christian Educators Association International is the only professional association in the United States specifically for Christian educators in public schools.  CEAI protects our members first in prayer, next with excellent professional liability insurance and other benefits while helping them live out their high calling as a Christian in the public school. 

Educator Devotionals through Lent

Dear Christian educators,

Lent begins on Wednesday, Feb. 26th - Join our educator devotionals for the 40 days of Lent. For each of these 40 Days during Lent, we will go to the Scriptures with a verse a day that will encourage, equip and empower through with God’s Word.

Lent is the season of 40 days (not counting Sundays) which begins on Ash Wednesday (2/26/20) and ends on Easter Eve (4/11/20). Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten, which means spring. The season is a preparation for celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday. Historically, lent began as a period of fasting and preparation for baptism by converts and then became a time of penance by all Christians. (from the United Methodist Book of Worship)

This year I will be again hosting a proactive view of living an educators' life during Lent. Although, we may be "giving up” something we enjoy, let us use these 40 days to see the beauty of the Fruit of the Spirit in our school communities.

Would you like to join me in this 40 days of reflection into God’s Word for encouragement?  It will be a short and sweet daily message in this pattern:

• A word based on the Fruit of the Spirit
• A reflection of how the word can be profitable in the classroom
• An educators’ prayer
• An image with the verse for the day

I will host the verses on this blog, and on the CIPE (Christians in Public Education) website. There's nothing better than being in the Word with our brothers and sisters.

Prayerfully yours,

K 

Karen C. Seddon

CEAI - Christian Educators Assoc. Int.

State Director for Florida

kseddon@ceai.org

407.892.5651

....an unqualified recipient of His unconditional love

www.ceai.org

http://the16-9movement.blogspot.com/

CIPE website
Around the Word in 180 Days
1:16 PM prayer movement

2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Christian Educators Association International is the only professional association in the United States specifically for Christian educators in public schools. CEAI protects our members first in prayer, next with excellent professional liability insurance and other benefits while helping them live out their high calling as a Christian in the public school. 

Christian Educators Association International is the only professional association in the United States specifically for Christian educators in public schools.  CEAI protects our members first in prayer, next with excellent professional liability insurance and other benefits while helping them live out their high calling as a Christian in the public school.