
I Thank God for You!
13 My friends, the Lord loves you, and it is only natural for us to thank God for you… His Spirit made you holy, and you put your faith in the truth. …16 God our Father loves us. He treats us with undeserved grace and has given us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope. We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father 17 will encourage you and help you always to do and say the right thing. 2 Thessalonians 2: 13, 16-17 CEV
I was reflecting on this passage the other day and my awareness was drawn to the leaders and leadership teams I have worked with during this year. This awareness then spread to all the leaders and staff working in our learning communities. What a blessing every single one of you are!
As you read this you may be thinking, “Well if you knew what was going on in my learning community or indeed what I have been ‘saying’ or ‘doing/not doing’ you might think twice about thanking God for me! ”
At this stage of the year, which has been filled with more than its fair share of complexities and challenges, our energy levels are pretty much in the ‘empty’ zone, which drains presence, patience, and compassion from us. Of course, all the people we work and interact with, are probably in that zone as well, so it’s not the best combination.
However, what we say and what we do doesn’t affect how God sees us or how God loves us. In fact, it’s when our love and patience and compassion run out that God can get our attention and ‘refill’ us, to give us the energy and love and patience we need, something we think we have to generate on our own. While God’s love is always available to us in full, we also need to take responsibility for ensuring we get the necessary rest and time to connect to that source of love regularly and that might mean closing the door between meetings, phone calls, and unexpected incidents taking a few deep breaths and reconnecting to God’s presence and love.
I pray that you will take regular times within these hectic final weeks, to allow God to fill you with love, with calm, with joy, with patience, with energy and kindness. May you reflect on all the blessings which have occurred this year, those times God has kept you afloat, loved you regardless, energised you, sat with you in the troubling times, and reminded you that you are enough!
You are an amazing blessing, on your best and worst days, and I thank God for every one of you!
Mignon Weckert