Wishing that our kids will love their Church as their own...

  Sooyoung and Seoyeon will be going to a new school this Fall. Sooyoung will be a freshman in high school while Seoyeon will be a seventh grader in middle school. Time really does seem to fly.

 

  Last Friday, my wife and kids attended the school open house; later that day, my wife talked about how the open house brought her interest, and told me what happend. The students themselves guided the guests. They approached first, said hello, and asked if you needed anything. My wife felt that they had a sense of ownership and pride in the school. It is not typical to see this kind of attitude among kids of their age. Yes, it is true that the children participating in the event were volunteers. Still, because it seemed to reflect the overall mood/atmosphere in school, it left an impression on me.

 

  This led me to think about how our kids feel about our church. If you search our church’s name in google, you’ll see reviews. Thankfully, our church had a five out of five star rating. What made me even more thankful was that there were familiar names among the reviews. It did not seem like they did it because someone told them to; it gave me more gratitude thinking the children did it by themselves, on their own. I was thankful that there are kids who love our church and are proud of it. Children who have a sense of ownership of their church, children who love and have pride in their church, I pray that even more children will become like that. 

 

  The school my kids are going to is public, but students themselves need to apply and get selected by drawing lots. Although students will probably develop their attachment to school over time, it seems that for many, the love and excitement begin from the enrollment process. I think it is important to get off on the right foot. Since the thankfulness that they get by going to the school of their choice is their first step, I would expect their school life will be even more thankful and enjoyable. Such gratitude can also spread from parents to children, from children to parents, and from friends to friends as well.  This gave me a bit of a challenge of sorts. 

 

  There seems to be a lot of things we can be thankful about from what I see. I believe we should ask ourselves the question of if we are getting off on the right foot with gratitude, if we love the church, if we find joy in the church, and if we are spreading thankfulness from one to another. I pray that such thankfulness and pride will overflow in the hearts of our children.

Following the Shepherd
Pastor Jiwon Choi