Reflection authored by: Gary Brown, Parishioner
One of the talents God gave me was athletic ability. As a child when we would pick people to be on a team, I was always picked near the front. Winning was the goal, and I won a lot. It never gets tiresome!
Besides sports, it was also fun to win in the business world. Maybe you won a contract with a big customer that other competitors were going after. That was fun!
Ten years ago I started teaching religious education, now called Faith Formation, to a 5th grade class of 10 and 11 year old kids. I found that by trying to bring out the best in each child was a method I could use to win. It was still a game. It was fun; and it gave me much satisfaction.
An example was the Christmas party the fifth graders hosted for the three second grade classes. That meant there would be 30 - 40 kids in a room that usually holds 10 students. We assigned each of our 5th graders to three 2nd grade students. They were to give their kids punch and cookies and play some games that were provided.
I was worried about one of our students, a girl who was very shy. She didn’t interact a lot with her classmates, didn’t volunteer answering questions, and when she did speak it was so soft that others couldn’t hear her. As the kids got into their groups with the 2nd graders, I would go around the room and see if the kids needed any help. I purposely was going to make sure my shy girl got a lot of my attention. I wasn’t sure she would be successful hosting her 3 guests. Instead she was a star! I couldn’t have asked for a better leader.
After the session as our kids were getting ready to leave, I took my “star” aside and praised her for being such a gracious host. I then asked her if she had ever thought about being a teacher when she got older. She said she had and I told her she would be excellent. A big smile came across her face. The next semester “our star” became more outgoing and confident. I won. More importantly, she won and that was the goal.