Be Gentle

In what concrete ways are educators able to bring an authentic gentleness into the classroom? One approach is to invite students to take personal responsibility for their faith. By taking the initiative, the student moves from a passive to an active participant. In these moments of deliberately living out the faith, they will at times falter, just like the rest of us. Here is when your gentleness must be expressed. Through gentle encouragement, rather than retribution, we can point them back to Christ. On the other hand, if reprimanding students in these moments, the response is typically rebellion or conformity which turns them away from the Love which we desire them to personally encounter. However, with gentle encouragement, we affirm their experiences and can help them see how these occurrences relate to the Truth and Love of God. When a student recognizes that they will not be scolded or neglected when they wrestle or fall, they develop a desire to continue seeking a unity between their personal experiences and the Truth.

So, be gentle! In doing so, we participate in building the Kingdom of God