"Smallness of Soul"

"[R]eading Thomas Aquinas (1224-74) on the virtue of courage, I happened across a vice which he called pusillanimity, which means 'smallness of soul.' Those afflicted by this vice, wrote Aquinas, shrink back from all that God has called them to be. When faced with the effort and difficulty of stretching themselves to the great things of which they are capable, the cringe and say, 'I can't.' In short the pusillanimous reply on their own puny powers and focus on their own potential for failure, rather than counting on God's grace to equip them for great work in his kingdom--work beyond anything they might have dreamed of for themselves." 

Rebecca Kronyndyk DeYoung, Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins

Another example of the need for Christians to dare greatly through the power of the grace of Christ.

Jesus is my Redeemer

"But is Jesus my therapist or my Redeemer? If he is my therapist, then he meets my needs as I define them. If he is my Redeemer, he defines my true needs and addresses them in ways far more glorious than I could have anticipated.
If Jesus is my therapist, he is the One who comes to affirm me. Instead of trying to love ourselves, we think about how much Jesus loves us. This approach is deceptive because it latches onto a very powerful aspect of the gospel: God does shower his love upon us in Christ! Everyone who reads the Bible knows this. But this approach subtly turns Jesus into the One who meets my needs and fills my emptiness--as I define them. It turns God's love into something that only serves me. Repentance for our rebellion and sin against God is minimized or even ignored while God's love for us is maximized. We turn Jesus into someone whose goal in life is to make us feel good about ourselves."

How People Change Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp

Effects of Our Identity in Christ

"Without an awareness of Christ's presence, we tend to live anxiously. We avoid hard things and are easily overwhelmed. But a clear sense of identity and provision gives us hope and courage to face the struggles and temptations that come our way."

How People Change Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence."(2 Peter 1:3, ESV)

Use of Talents

The Parable of the Talents
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that placethere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Something new struck me about this parable today. The master gives out the talents, giving more to those who have the ability to use them, and expects them to use them. However, what suddenly came into my mind, was that the master doesn't tell the servants what to do with their talents. Yes, he expects the servants to use them, develop them in some way, and show a profit at the end, but he doesn't tell them how. There's a wide open door here, which really opens up a lot of possibilities for how we view our students and their gifts.

Using your gifts and talents is not necessarily only about sharing them with others, for example, having a gift for things musical. Just because you have a lot of talent for piano or singing or violin or. . . doesn't mean that this must be the focus of your life. You may have other talents that also need development, and your music may be one of the ways you learn the various skills that will benefit you in these other areas as well. Just because you have a lot of talent in one area or another, doesn't mean you must spend your life on it. That might mean stunting the growth of other talent areas in your life.

The unworthy servant doesn't do anything with his--doesn't even put it in the bank so it collects interest (develop it in a minor way--taking piano lessons, for example) and this is why he is cast out. It's the fact that he didn't do anything with it at all that is the problem. Not using what you have been given, but squandering it or hiding it in the ground is the sin here. Our talents are gifts from God--His property, loaned to us until His return--and it is our responsibility to steward and develop them for His glory. He has given us the talent, but how we develop it is primarily left up to us--as long as we are developing them in God-honouring and glorifying ways, we are doing His will.

Personal Qualities Not Measured by Tests

Just a reminder for myself that I need to be making this clear to my students. The marks we give are not a mark for who they are, but for what they've done. Marks do not define the person.
This is also part of Daring Greatly--developing the above qualities--this what it is to be human.

Are we fostering some of the above qualities? Perhaps, but perhaps not for the right reasons. Students might develop self-discipline out of fear of failure. They might be reliable because they are afraid if they aren't, they won't be loved.

I struggle a lot with the feeling that schools are too much like factories. We don't allow the students to develop and learn in a natural way, but we push them through the system. You have to complete the curriculum, do the tests, report on their progress, do the exams, and pass them on to the next tier.

It doesn't feel like there is room  in high school for pursuing personal interests and going deep into topics that the students engage with. I wish there was a course that could just be individually-focused and -directed. Like a full year ISU, but the students would be self-directed and able to explore pathways of interest as they come up. They could write journals/blogs and do presentations and write essays and make videos, etc. and these would be used to assess them. It would be like grad school, I guess, where they would defend their "thesis" --the body of work they create-- at the end.
Maybe it wouldn't work for everyone, maybe there would be too much leeway and some people would be lost without guidelines. That, I guess, would be where their mentor/teacher would come in--to provide structure if necessary.
Maybe this is just an INTP dream. . .

Just some things running through my brain at present.

Daring Greatly by Paul

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV